


A Race For The Stars

by Calyss



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Character Undeath, FOURTH WALL WHAT FOURTH WALL, I suppose, Illustrated, M/M, Memory Alteration, Mild Sexual Content, Mind Control, Minor Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Mutual Pining, OR IS IT, Padawan Obi-Wan, Possessive Behavior, Seduction to the Dark Side, Sith Anakin, That's Not How The Force Works, Time Skips, anakin is a lying liar who lies, i don't know how to tag, legends refs, obi-wan's swooshy hair, overuse of fiery metaphors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-10-14 09:56:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10534095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calyss/pseuds/Calyss
Summary: When Obi-Wan Kenobi meets a young pilot in black and red in a shady Toydarian owned shop of Mos Espa, all bets are off.The best description for this is probably "weirdass rewrite of the prequels". Or maybe not. Maybe it's "when Anakin Skywalker has his eyes on someone, he will get them, the Galaxy be damned". Or maybe "give Obi-Wan Kenobi a rest". Idk.





	1. You Can Bet On Me

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyy! First time writing for this fandom (if I don't count that weirdass unpublished self insert where I steal Grievous' shit)! Hope you'll like it ;)
> 
> Also is anyone else wondering why the hell did they took Jar Jar with them in Mos Espa? (Well, the two Jedi going doesn't really make much sense either but, shhhh, it's for the sake of the fic).
> 
> Movie quotes are between * instead of ", just so you know. 
> 
> Oh and also, I'm french and don't have a beta. If you spot something really horrendous, feel free to tell me but I'm pretty sure I'll obsess over this enough to come back and correct the smaller mistakes by myself.
> 
> One last thing! Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé are all around 20 in this. Because I said so.

Jar Jar had wanted to come but the two Jedi had exchanged a glance and Qui-Gon had declared that the Gungan was to stay on the ship to protect it and never mind that the Queen had guards on board, he had beamed at the show of confidence. Obi-Wan had discretely gone to talk to said guards and warned them that the most prominent danger in their absence would probably be Binks. Then he had followed his Master out of the ship, happy to get rid of the Gungan if only for a few hours and of the occasion to stretch his legs.

He had quickly regretted leaving the ship, though, even if it meant no crashing and screaming was happening around him. Tatooine heat was suffocating, the twin suns seemingly determined to make every single particle of water his body was containing evaporate.

It was a relief when they reached Mos Espa, for there was at least some shadow to be found in those dusty streets.

Qui-Gon was walking ahead with Padmé, one of the queen's handmaidens that had insisted on coming on her mistress' behalf. Obi-Wan didn't mind the added company. She was a charming young lady, obviously clever and strong headed, who didn't seem to mind the particular flavor of crowd that was roaming around them nor the harsh light or abrasive sand that were assaulting them (and when he noticed it Obi-Wan only could thank the Force that he was a Jedi and as such _couldn't possibly_ take offense that a sheltered young woman was seemingly faring better than he, a trained warrior with psychic powers.

They were in quest of an hyperdrive generator. Easy enough to find on most planets but Obi-Wan doubted very much that it would be the case for this one. Every piece of machinery around him seemed rusted and broken in some way, parts that visibly didn't belong together cobbled in some unexpected way. Everything in Mos Espa screamed to him that they were far away from the Galactic Core and that any device recent enough to be of any use on the queen's ship would without any doubt be indecently expensive. 

*We'll try one of the smaller dealers,* said Qui-Gon after a few minutes of wandering the busy streets ( _Wouldn't all those people better off inside_ , wondered Obi-Wan). Padmé and Obi-Wan followed the older man inside one of the dome shaped buildings. The place was thankfully cooler than the standard street shadow and Obi-Wan sighed with contentment as he took in the cluttered space. The shop smelled strongly of oil and... Hum, Toydarian sweat, he deduced at the owner flew toward them, greeting the Jedi and the the handmaiden in a Huttese none of them could understand.

*I need parts for a J-Type 327 Nubian,* Qui-Gon said firmly.

*Ah, yes! Nubian. We have lots of that,* the Toydarian said in Basic before switching back to Huttese to call a tiny girl up front. She climbed on the counter and started cleaning pieces of machinery, eyeing them suspiciously.

"What parts exactly?"

"A T-14 hyperdrive generator," replied Obi-Wan, who had been the one to attempt repairs on the ship.

The owner took Qui-Gon to the back and Obi-Wan and Padmé were left there under the guard of the child.

"So... Hyperdrive problems?"

Obi-Wan turned at the sound of the voice.

For a strange moment something traversed the Force, coming to brush against Obi-Wan senses, like a finger skimming lightly along his synapses. Then it was gone as swiftly as it came and the padawan was left staring at a pair of blue eyes, all thought of the Force gone from his mind.

Said pair belonged to a young man, around Obi-Wan’s age. He was leaning on the wall next to the door, his tall and toned body put on display in black and red form fitting simili-leather.

 _Force this is highly inappropriate… to the weather_ , thought Obi-Wan.

“Aren’t you hot?” he asked.

“Well thank you.”

He heard a snort coming from behind him and it was only thanks to his years of training that he refrained himself of scowling Padmé to death, keeping his eyes onto the newcomer.

Which was maybe not that good of an idea.

The other man was grinning cockily, an eyebrow raised as of to invite him to… to what exactly, Obi-wan couldn't decide.

"It wasn't meant as a compliment," he said sharply, annoyed by the man's attitude. 

"I'll take it nonetheless."

Obi-Wan conjured the calm and balance he was usually so good at maintain and decided to reset the conversation on more civilized tracks.

"How do you know about the hyperdrive?"

"He went in just after us, Obi-Wan," Padmé informed him, looking quite perplexed by his obliviousness.

"Really? I didn't sense you."

"Sense me? What do you..." The man's eyes raked over him and Obi-Wan knew he had recognized his Jedi robes when he saw his face morph into an air of realization. "Oh."

Obi-Wan chastised himself internally at the slip. Now if Trade Confederation agents were to find them - and more importantly, the queen - it would be his fault. He really should have changed before leaving the ship.

"Yeah. I've been said to be quite dull in the Force, _Master Jedi_."

At that moment, Qui-Gon came back into the shop. He wasn't looking particularly angry - he was a Jedi and Jedi didn't do angry - but Obi-Wan knew by the brisk way he was walking and the rigid set of this shoulder that this had been a bust and it probably had nothing to do with the piece being available or not and everything with the Toydarian that followed him inside, looking surprisingly smug for someone who had just flubbed a sale.

*We're leaving,* Qui-Gon said, going straight to the exit. He glanced briefly and curiously at the man in red and black who was making his way to the counter but said nothing more.

Human and Toydarian began speaking animatedly in Huttese as Padmé and Qui-Gon left the shop. Obi-Wan followed but, on his way out, the young Jedi could not resist but give a last look at the young man who just happened to look his way. His lips moved to form a lazy smile and he winked at Obi-Wan who shook his head in disbelief and stepped back into the unforgiving heat. 

 

* * *

 

He would later justify his action to Qui-Gon by saying that Jedi were supposed to be peace keepers and that those two were troubling the already fragile enough peace of Mos Espa.

The truth is that he was very curious about this stranger that flew so low under his Force-radar.

So when he spotted him again less than a hour later, he couldn't help but stare as the young man engaged in a visibly heated discussion with a Dug. He didn't need to understand Huttese to know that they were trading insults.

Pretending to browse the merchandises presented on the stand between his little group and the other two, Obi-Wan slowly made his way toward them, knowing that his attitude was ridiculous but not letting it stop him.

He was only a few meters away when the Dug poised himself as if to strike and Obi-Wan reflexes decided it was a good moment to override his brain in his decision making process. He launched himself at them, interposing between the Dug and his target and raised his hand in a placating way.

"Let's calm down, gentlemen, shall we?" he suggested with a Force-infused smile to the angry Dug.

The creature lowered his... legs? Arms? Damn Dug were confusing - and Obi-Wan allowed himself a quick look over his shoulder.  Black-and-red guy was looking at him with an incredulous air that screamed _"what are you doing???"_ or maybe that question was echoing so loudly in Obi-Wan's head that he was reading it on the other man's face.

He reported his attention on the Dug who was visibly still angry and trying to decide if he could manage to take them both off.

"Step back, please," said Obi-Wan, parting his robes and putting his hand on his saber's handle, dragging the Dug attention to it. The creature's eyes reduced to slits at the sight and he finally stepped back.

"You're a dead man tomorrow Skywalker," he said in a heavily accented Basic before spitting in the dust and strutting off.

Obi-Wan watched him retreat and grimaced as he saw Qui-Gon and Padmé pass him as they were coming their way. Qui-Gon wasn't maybe the stricter of the Jedi but he could be as stern a lecturer as Master Windu when he judged that his Padawan was endangering their mission.

Which he had possibly done by once again reveling himself as a Jedi.   

"It wasn't necessary you know."

Obi-Wan turned to the man - Skywalker and smiled weakly.

"I like to think I'm not the type of person who would let a not total stranger get beat up by a Dug."

Skywalker laugh was a bit off and he rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. 

"Well it _might_ have been kind of my fault. But thanks." He extended his - strangely covered while the other one was bare - right hand and added: "I don't believe I introduced myself. I'm Anakin Skywalker."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," said Obi-Wan, shaking the proffered hand. "You're welcome."

By then the other two had joined them and Obi-Wan obligingly presented them.

"And this is Padmé and my Master," he valiantly ignored the reproachful glare he got at that "Qui-Gon Jinn."

"Hello again," said Skywalker joyfully before his gaze focused on something behind them and suddenly he was frowning and mouthing something that Obi-Wan suspected was "sand". He was about to ask when the other  said: "Looks like a sandstorm's coming," prompting them to turn and indeed, a mass of orange cloud was forming on the horizon. "You're settled?"

"Our ship is pretty far away from the city," mused Padmé. "I don't know if we'll make it."

The young man considered them for a moment then said:

"What about I show you the place I'm staying in? It's quite the dive but the food isn't that bad. Drinks on me as a thank for saving my life," he added with another wink to Obi-Wan.

 

* * *

 

"You know," Skywalker said, pointing at Qui-Gon with his fork. "Watto may be a winged rat in all the senses of the term, but he's probably telling the truth when he said he's the only one in Mos Espa that can procure you a T-14 hyperdrive generator. The area doesn't really do high end ships. Mostly podracers and clunky utilitarians." He swallowed his food and rinsed it with a generous mouthful of his drink, something green and spicy that had made Obi-Wan's head swarm after two or three gulps. He had left his glass untouched since, keeping to jug of lukewarm but pure water that was served with their food.

Skywalker - "come on, call me Anakin" - didn't had such qualms and was way into his third drink, though he was starting to slow down.

The man had led them to some sort of inn where he had asked for two room, taking the few credits they costed in exchange for his Huttese currency. They had then joined the common room and Skywalker had ordered food for everyone.

"I think I might be the only person here that would take daitaris and that's because i'm only there for Boonta Eve. I'm going back to Coruscant in a few days. I would help you get your generator but Watto already took most of what I have on me today."

"You already did a lot," replied Qui-Gon with a polite smile.

Obi-Wan could sense his Master's conflict. On one hand Skywalker was a pleasant person and he _did_ help them. On the other neither of them could sense anything from him and that was... Disconcerting. Obi-Wan couldn't help but reach toward Skywalker only to find nothing and that was disturbing to say the least, to meet only void where his eyes could see a lively young man - perhaps even a bit too lively for someone used to the peacefulness of the Jedi Temple, but Obi-Wan didn't really mind. He was enthralled, to be honest, even with that strange Force-absence. He tried to not stare too much, but it was as hard as to stop trying to reach him via the Force.

Padmé didn't seemed to have any problem with staring. She was visibly under the man's charm and was readily laughing at his jokes. Obi-Wan was happy to see her like that, as she had been rather somber all day, doubtlessly worrying about what was happening on her homeworld.

Skywalker was talking to her about his last trip to Naboo - he seemed to be quite the traveler - when he suddenly stopped visibly having thought of something.

"Why didn't I think of it earlier?" he exclaimed, laughing. "You can bet!"

“Bet? On what?” asked Obi-Wan, dubious.

“On me,” responded the man, his smile going even larger.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be clearer," said Qui-Gon.

"Didn't I said? I'm here for tomorrow's race. The Boonta Eve Classic?" He looked at each of them like it should have meant something and his face fell a bit when it obviously didn't. "Well it's a podrace. And I very well intend to win it."

"I heard podraces were very dangerous," quipped Padmé.

"They are. But talented pilots don't give up in the face of danger."

"And you're such a pilot?" Qui-Gon asked and Obi-Wan could see that his Master was trying to appraise the man. He looked like a pilot. The clothes, the daring act, his knowledge in mechanics.

Skywalker gave them a grin that seemed to be his trademark and said:

"The best."

 

* * *

 

"Can you believe he bet _the queen's ship_?!" Obi-Wan said for the third time that day to Padmé.

They were sitting in Mos Espa's Grand Arena, waiting for the race to begin.

"He's your Master, Obi-Wan. You're best placed than me to know what he's about," she replied distractedly. "Besides, what would we do with a ship that can't go into hyperspace?"

"I'm sure there got to be some change agent somewhere on this planet," said Obi-Wan. "Or a dealer who would accept daitaris."

"We don't really have the time for it. You don't think Anakin's gonna win? He seemed to know what was doing doing this morning."

The pilot had emerged from his room grumpy and visibly hangover but he had perked up as soon as Qui-Gon had announced wanting to bet on the race. He had led them to the hangar where he had stashed his racer had taken it for a tour, showing off his skills.

"Maybe. But I also heard someone said that no human had ever won this race."

"Well, there is a first time for..."

The end of her sentence was drowned by the sound of the crowd's cheering as the racers entered the arena.

 Skywalker was walking alongside his black and red pod, his gait arrogant and his head held high. The sun was gleaming into hair, turning them golden and his smile was dazzling as he spotted Obi-Wan and Padmé in the public and saluted them.

Something in Obi-Wan stomach tightened and he glowered at the pilot, once again wishing he had stayed on their ship. Or better, on Coruscant.

 

* * *

 

After the race, they'd come back to Watto's shop, Skywalker with them. He had proposed to help them install the new generator and Obi-Wan had admitted that someone who built race-winning pods by himself was probably better suited for the job than him.

Watto had glowered at the pilot when he had seen him with them and muttered something about "crinking slave boys living to make his life hell". Skywalker had just smirked at him.

Now they were back to the ship and the pilot-slash-mechanic was installing their "new" generator. Obi-Wan was hovering behind him, not really surveying - he trusted Skywalker's skills - more like... observing.

"What did he meant, ‘slave boy’?" he asked after a fashion.

Skywalker didn't answer immediately and when he did, his tone was unusually subdued.

"I used to live here. I used to belong to Watto. Hand me this tool."

"But now you’re free?"

"Now I’m free."

"And you just swung by for Boonta Eve?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously. If it had been him, if he had been the one that was once a slave on this planet, he wouldn't have come back here for all the credits in the galaxy.

"Well I didn't thought I would ever set foot back on this wretched planet", Skywalker said cheerfully, although it seemed a bit forced. "But, eh, the call of the race, you know?"

"No. Not really."

Skywalker's face became serious once more.

"It was my childhood dream to win this race. Now that it's done, I can move on."

They stayed silent for a moment.

"Also it was really nice to beat Sebulba."

They both grinned at the memory of the Dug's reaction to the loss of his title.

Obi-Wan smile didn't last long though. Something... Something _bad_ was coming, disrupting the Force. He grimaced at the disturbing sensation, but tried to feel out what it was nonetheless.

A life form. Moving at great speed but clouded in darkness.

He raised his head to see that Skywalker eyes were on him, observing him intently.

"Stay here," he said, before bolting out of the room.

As he made his way to the still opened ramp, the sound of a vehicle became stronger. The pilot was climbing out, drawn by the noise.

"No, don't!" Obi-Wan warned but too late. A figure cloaked in black launched itself from an equally black speeder bike and one flash of red later, the pilot was in two parts.

The figure landed gracefully at the bottom of the ramp and his hood fell back, reveling the black and red face of a Zabrak. _He would look great in Skywalker's clothes_ , Obi-Wan thought for a ridiculous second before he registered that the red light had come from a light saber and the Zabrak in front of him was, as impossible as it may seem, a Sith.

"Kriffing hell!" The voice coming from behind him was undoubtedly's Skywalker, _who he had told to stay inside, dammit_ , but he ignored him and took out his own saber.

A second later, Qui-Gon had joined him and they both engaged the Zabrak, light saber clashing in flashes of blue, red and green and it didn't took long for Obi-Wan to notice that their opponent was skilled, good enough to last against two Jedi with the higher ground.

This could have lasted a while if the ship didn't suddenly took off, making the Zabrak loose his balance enough that had to fall back to the ground. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon retreated inside of the ship, the ramp closed and they were off of Tatooine. 


	2. Because Fuck Jar Jar Binks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I promised to myself (and that one person in the comments) that it would take me two days to update... AND I DID WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER IN TWO DAYS HIGH FIVE ME!!
> 
> This chapter is called that way because I'm petty.
> 
> Also, here is ARFTS!Anakin: 

 

Skywalker turned to them as they entered the cockpit.

*Are you all right?*

*I think so... that was a surprise I won't soon forget,* replied Obi-Wan, hooking back his saber to his belt and sitting on the floor, back resting his head on the wall.

*What was it?* asked Skywalker.

*I don't know...* Qui-Gon said. *But he was well trained in the Jedi arts. My guess is he was after the Queen...*

Obi-Wan frowned at his master hesitation at calling the Zabrak a Sith. Maybe he had spent a bit too much time reading about the old republic and the war against the dark side. Maybe he was an impressionable padawan with a too vivid imagination. But there was several things he knew for sure: no Jedi would strike an unarmed innocent. No Jedi would ever wield a red light saber. And beside, one had to be pretty determined to mark themselves as a darksider to build one with a synthetic crystal. 

Well, maybe Skywalker wouldn't have even know what was a Sith... But still.

*Do you think he'll follow us?* he asked his Master.

*We'll be safe enough once we're in hyperspace,* said Qui-Gon. *But I have no doubt he knows our destination.* He sighed. "I'm going to talk to the queen."

"We can drop you back on Tatooine if you want. Maybe not near Mos Espa, though."

Qui-Gon wouldn't be happy about the delay but they couldn't drag this guy across the galaxy against his will, could they?

"I don't really want to. Besides, wasn't that your pilot this guy hacked in two?"

"Well, yes."

"Then if you'll have me, I'm going with you to Coruscant. That was my destination anyway."

"But what about your pod?"

"Only I have the access code to that hangar. And if someone manages to get in and steal it... Well," Skywalker shrugged, "I'll just build a new one."

 

* * *

 

*... he was trained in the Jedi art. My only conclusion can be that it was a Sith Lord.*

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had gone straight to the Council Chambers after separating from the queen and her party, not even stopping by their apartments. Now Qui-Gon was finishing his report on Tatooine's events, and the Masters were looking dubious to say the least.

*Impossible! The Sith have been extinct for a millennium,* Master Mundi said.

*I do not believe they could have returned without us knowing,* claimed Master Windu, as if the idea that something could happen in the galaxy without the Force alerting him was a personal insult.

*Hard to see, the dark side is. Discover who this assassin is, we must.*

*I sense he will reveal himself again,* Mundi said. Obi-Wan nearly rolled his eyes at this. Yeah, the Zabrak had seem pretty determined to kill them all. No way he was gonna stop there just because they had manage to escape him. Sometimes he tended to think that the Masters liked to pass logical deductions as the result of their powers in order to mystify people and were so used to it that they were doing it even among their own.

*This attack was with purpose, that is clear, and I agree the Queen is the target.*

*With this Naboo queen you must stay, Qui-Gon. Protect her.*

*We will use all our resources here to unravel this mystery and discover the identity of your attacker... May the Force be with you.*

Obi-Wan turned to leave, but Qui-Gon continued to face the Council.

*Master Qui-Gon. More to say have you?*

"With your permission, my Master. I have encountered an... Anomaly in the Force."

"An anomaly, you say?"

"A young man. He his... Absent. You can stand before him, see him breath and talk and move but if you try to reach him through the Force... There's just nothing."

"Think there is a link between him and that Sith, you do?"

"Maybe," Qui-Gon responded. Obi-Wan was about to protest - sure Skywalker was an oddness but a Sith? Surely not! - but then his Master added: "I don't know. He was helpful and didn't shy away from us when he learnt we were Jedi. "

"If I may, Masters?" Obi-Wan interrupted.

Master Yoda nodded his permission.

"He said that he was aware of this. It must mean he already met a Jedi in the past. Maybe he figures on some record?"

"Ask how he knew, you didn't?"

"No, Master Yoda. He mentioned it in passing during our first conversation. I'm afraid it had slipped my mind when we talked again. I just only remembered it."

"And where is this..."

"Skywalker. Anakin Skywalker."

"Where is he now?"

"Back on Coruscant. He said he lived here. Though I don't know were to find him. But he must be in the planet database."

"Reflect on this, we will," said Master Yoda. "Now. Go you may."

 

* * *

  

Obi-Wan was watching his Master duel a Sith Lord through a red tinted laser wall, anxiety gnawing at him. He doubted that Qui-Gon would be able too last much longer, the Zabrak had stood his ground against both of them this time as well as the last. Now he had only Qui-Gon to focus on. _Be calm_ , he repeated to himself. _Listen to the Force_.

But all he heard was a series of metallic clunk, before seeing, from the corner of his eyes, a panel detach itself from the wall on his right.

He ignited his weapon and swung it in the direction of the overture from where someone was emerging.

His light saber stopped an inch from a throat belonging to...

"Wow!" exclaimed a familiar voice. "Calm done! It's just me!"

Before him, holding up his hands in a defensive gesture, was Anakin Skywalker.

"What..." Obi-Wan blinked slowly, as if it could make Skywalker disappear and be replaced by something more logical. Like one of the queen's guard for example. Or a Gungan. Or even an other Sith Lord. "What are you doing there?"

"Why don't you lower that and I tell you," said Skywalker, eyeing the weapon.

Obi-Wan did lowered his saber, but only by a few inch. He might have some sympathy for the man but his presence here was highly suspicious and so improbable it had momentarily made him forgot about the ongoing duel.

"So?"

Skywalker's rolled his yes and took the half step back that the reduced space allowed him to take without having to crawl back into what seemed to be a maintenance conduit.

"And make it quick. There's kind of a situation going on."

He could hear the clash of light saber echoing in the next room.

"I followed you," Skywalker said, shrugging.

"In a war zone?"

"What? I like some action once in a while!"

Obi-Wan stared at him incredulously, then reaffirmed his clutch on his light saber's handle. Skywalker was obviously fucking with him but for what reason...

He examined the smiling pilot, remarking the multiple pouches that were clamped to his belt, next to a blaster. They were probably contemning tools or... maybe explosives. His blood turned cold has he thought about the generators surrounding them. The damages could be devastating.

"It's not like there is much action going on in this plant."

"Oh but I beg to differ," said Skywalker with a grin, pointing to where the Jedi and the Sith were currently standing nearly nose to nose, pushing at each other's saber. "It's much more intense in there than outside." He turned back and pointed the other way. "It's opening."

At that moment, the Sith seemed to decide it was a good time to use the Force and with a flick of his arm, sent Qui-Gon fly over the melting pit. The Jedi hit the opposing wall and fell to the floor where he stayed, motionless, his light saber rolling from his hand and powering off. The Zabrak started toward him, obviously determined to deliver the killing blow.

Obi-Wan gave a last look at Skywalker who stared back innocently and ran to intercept the Sith. 

 

* * *

 

He was losing. 

Losing his breath, his force, his concentration.

Frustration was eroding his focus whereas the Sith seemed to gain in fury and aggressiveness as the fight was going on.

He was going to die.

Something behind the Sith caught his attention. Skywalker had gone around them and was picking up Qui-Gon's fallen saber.

Seeing him distracted, his enemy made a move that Obi-Wan would have blocked easily enough any other day... But today it sent his saber flying... And him too.

He fell back and the Sith stood over him, a victorious smile revealing his sharp teeth.

"Hey, sleemo!" 

The Sith turned at the insult and Anakin Skywalker headbutted him.

"Argh! Fuck! Cranking dammit! You horned bastard!" Hollered Skywalker, holding a hand over the right side of his face. "Why did I do that?"

The Zabrack had fallen to the ground, looking more surprised than truly injured. 

"You..." he began. 

But then Skywalker ignited Qui-Gon's saber - and why he hadn't done it in the first place, Obi-Wan had no idea - and brought it down on the fallen Sith, who barely manage to raise his own to stop it.

Obi-Wan should have raised to his feet. He should have gone in search for his own weapon - or called it to him. But he was just... watching. Watching as Skywalker, the man who didn't exist in the Force, was fighting a Sith Lord and standing his ground against him.

He was a whirlwind against the Zabrak, seeming barely noticing the bleeding gash that adorned his face now that the initial pain was passed. He was keeping his opponent on his toes and Obi-Wan noticed more than once that the Sith was trying to talk but kept getting interrupted by vicious strikes.

Then somehow Obi-Wan's saber was also in Skywalker's hand and then, the fight was over.

The Sith was once again on the ground, this time disarmed. Skywalker crossed the two saber, blue on green, before the Sith's throat.

Obi-Wan only had the time to say:

“No! Don’t! We’ll take..."

A flash of light.

"... him to the Temple.”

The Zabrak's head rolled on the ground and fell into the melting pit.

 

* * *

 

Qui-Gon had waken up soon after the Zabrak's death and they started toward the main aisle of the palace. The fights had died down, leaving, thankfully, more droid parts behind than human bodies. Skywalker was whistling and looking curiously at the damages as they marched on. The noise provided a strange relief in Obi-Wan, maybe because that way he was aware of where the man was without having to keep his eyes on him. He really disliked not be able to sense him.

Padmé was in the middle of a holo conversation with one of her men when they arrived.

“The gungans seem to be winning, my queen. The droid troops are thinning out.”

“Good. And, hum, what about Binks? Still in one piece?”

“I’m afraid not. Apparently he tripped on something, got shot by a B1 and stomped on by a droideka. He’s dying my queen. It’s almost like…”

“Like what?”

“Like he wasn’t an unrealistically invincible character destined to appeal to children but failing to be anything else than an annoying rubberized anomaly in an otherwise sensational saga.”

“What?” She seemed floored by this declaration and Obi-Wan couldn't blame her. It was utter nonsense.

“What?” Echoed the man.

“Rubberized?”

“Well, yes. But rubber melts, my queen. And with an horrible smell I might add.”

Padmé considered him for a moment then:

“When this is over, you take a a week or two for yourself, captain. See your family, take long walks on some beach.”

“Hum… Alright my queen. I shall do that.”

“Good.”

She ended the transmission and sighed heavily, her shoulders sagging.

"So you _are_ the queen," said Skywalker, prompting Padmé to turn their way. She straightened her position instantly, as if that moment of weakness had never happened.

"Anakin!" she exclaimed, smiling suddenly. "What are you doing there?"

"Seeking some _action_ ," Obi-Wan answered when the man stayed silent.

"And what happened to your face?!" asked Padmé, noticing Skywalker's bleeding face.

"He headbutted a Zabrak."

 

* * *

 

"You still haven't told me what you were doing here."

After a short debriefing on the situation, Obi-Wan had dragged Skywalker to an alcove on the side of the room, picking up a medpac from a passing medic on hos way. He made Skywalker sit down and get to work on his cut, starting by cleaning the drying blood.

"I did told you."

"No, you served me lies. And not even good ones at that."

"Okay," Skywalker said slowly. "You want the truth?"

"Yes. I do not believe I'd ask you if I didn't."

"I..." Suddenly he was staring at his feet, looking bashful. Obi-Wan mercilessly tilted it up again so he could continue his work and Skywalker glared at him. "I ...might have a crush on Padmé."

_Oh._

"And, alright, it may seem a bit ridiculous and stalker-ish but..."

"A _bit_?" Obi-Wan scoffed. "You followed her _halfway across the galaxy_..."

"Alright! A lot stalker-ish! But I really thought I might be of some help!"

"In the power generator plant?" he asked, dragging a hand into curled hair - _to keep them out of the wound. Even if they're nice hair. Come on Obi-Wan -_ and reached for bacta patches with his other ha... "Mmh, this pac is out of bacta. I could go ask for some..."

"Leave it. I don't mind a scar."

_Well then. Dry bandage it is._

"You can access pretty much every part of the palace going through the maintenance vents. I was planning on finding the throne room, getting rid of that vice-roy," he shrugged. "I might have get lost a bit."

"Yeah the throne room was on the other side of the building."

" _Anyway,"_ Skywalker said, a bit louder. "I heard the sabers and I thought that my favorite Jedi my be in trouble and that I could..."

"Be of some help?"

"I was!"

"And now we'll never know who sent him," he deplored.

"Well next time I'll let you get killed then."

"There won't be a next time," Obi-Wan said firmly, looking the other man in the eyes. "You're not getting involved in Jedi business again."

A smirk appeared slowly on Skywalker's lips and Obi-Wan shook his head. He was now certain he should have left Sebulba beat the man to death or whatever he was planning to do.

 "Alright..." Obi-Wan sighed "I'm done". He saw Qui-Gon looking inquiringly toward him from where he was still talking with Padmé. He nodded to his Master reassuringly. Skywalker stood up and ran a finger along his wound, looking pensive. “The Council will want to meet you, though.”

“Why? And I thought I wasn't to get involved in Jedi business again.”

“After _that_. And, well, you killed a Sith. Something no one has done for a thousand years.” And you’re a void in the Force, Obi-Wan added mentally.

“Tell them it was you.”

“What? No! Why would I do that?”

“Because I want you to,” Skywalker said, stepping closer.

He was looming over Obi-Wan, his face more serious than the Jedi had ever seen and his skin had an unusual paleness, certainly due to the blood loss. It made him look more menacing than ever, and Obi-Wan had just seen him kill a Sith Lord.

Obi-Wan gulped but stood his ground.

"I won't take credit for the action of another!"

"Well I'm the one who did it and it doesn't bother me, so..."

"I won't lie to my Master!"

"But you would lie to the others?"

Obi-Wan hesitated a second too long.

"See? No problem. And Qui-Gon already believe you did it. Or else he would have asked how it was possible."

"Yet another thing you haven't told me, Skywalker."

"Didn't I said to call me Anakin?"

"How do you know how to use a light saber, _Anakin_?"

Another shrug.

"Something I picked up when I was travelling."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at that.

"Yeah, right..."

"Obi-Wan!" called Padmé at that moment.

He sighed and pointed at Sky - alright, _Anakin_ , emotional distance be damned - and said, without really believing he would obey:

"Stay here."

Of course, when Padmé was done with her _celebration_ talk, Anakin was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I use a transcript for movie scenes that I reuse and apparently there was some lines written down for the Council that did not make the final cut? (or maybe it's certain versions?) But I realized this after witting around them so I decided to let them here.
> 
> Also, I was going through the novelization of TPM because I like to be accurate when I name things and there is this passage that grabed my attention during Maul and Qui-Gon's duel:  
> "Obi-Wan stared through the laser wall. For just an instant, Qui-Gon’s opponent seemed to be wearing a black helmet, and Obi-Wan felt a cold chill. This is wrong, this is all wrong. I’m supposed to be the one fighting the Dark Lord. Obi-Wan shook his head, trying to clear it. The Sith Lord wasn’t wearing a helmet; it was only the light of the laser walls on the black of his tattoo. "  
> So apparently, Obi-Wan is having Vader visions.
> 
> I personally think that it was Qui-Gon's (imminent) death that permitted Obi-Wan to beat Maul. As it didn't happen here...
> 
> Oh and now I can't help but imagine Maul coming back in tCW with just his head mounted on articifial legs and being like "I'm gonna bite your head off with my carnivore teeth!"


	3. Do NOT Let The Padawan Get Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a fanfic thing: Sith will always do Cad Bane's job better than him.
> 
> Also: Obi-Wan gets drunk and in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finishing this at 02:15am because I was dragged to the beach earlier in the evening. I've got sand, maybe not everywhere, but at least between my toes. It's coarse and irritating.
> 
> You can find me tumblr (calyssmarviss) my blog is a mix of supernatural, star wars and various other stuff and i do reactions of the Clone Wars as I watch it (I'm maybe a third into it?)

They had arrived on Coruscant in the evening, too late for meeting the Council for a report on a successful mission. 

Obi-Wan went to sleep and woke up with the same set of questions. And they were still there as he waited next to the Council Chamber's doors.

_Why should I lie for him? Sure he probably saved my life but..._

_Alright_ , he _certainly_ saved his life and, okay, that wasn't _nothing_.

But what was he covering, exactly? Why would Anakin not want the recognition for having killed that Sith? Was it because of his skills with a saber? Did he learned with someone whom the Council would not approve of? For a moment, Obi-Wan lost himself in the memory of that duel. It was extremely rare, seeing someone who didn't have the Force mastering light saber combat. The weapon was too dangerous to use for the non sensitives. And surely, someone who didn't register within the Force could not possibly be able to use it.

Obi-Wan sighed. Skywalker was an enigma rolled in a mystery inside a six feet tall package and that was seriously starting to give him a headache.

It wasn't exactly a relief when the Council members finally arrived but at least, he would soon be done with it.

Qui-Gon gave a complete report, from their arrival on the planet to the fight against the Sith Lord.

Until that moment his Master had been neutral in his description of the events, as a Jedi must be in every occasion. But when came the moment to tell how his Padawan had succeeded where he had himself been beaten, Qui-Gon had looked more proud of him than ever and he both hated and loved it.

Hated because, well, it wasn't really him he was proud of. But Qui-Gon was like a father to him and even though it wasn't the Jedi way, he wanted his respect more than everything. Now he knew that he could have that from him.

He only had to find another Sith Lord to kill for it to be true.

But for now it was all he had.

So Obi-Wan never denied.

He didn't enforce the lie either, feigning modesty and describing the Sith's death a impersonally as possible - we fought, he died beheaded - when prompted and tried to convince himself that, that way, he wasn't _really_ lying to the Council.

_Keep telling yourself that._

The Masters were fooled by this, apparently sensing no lie in his words. And, really, they didn't even have a reason to search for it. Why would he had lied about something like this? Obi-Wan wasn't known to be arrogant. Every person who knew him thought him to be the model padawan. He was promised to great things, he had heard other Jedi say more than once.

So he accepted the praises that should have gone to another. Another that wasn't even talked about during that meeting. Not by Qui-Gon. Not by the Masters. Not by Obi-Wan. As if he hadn't been on Naboo. As if he wasn't an anomaly in the Force. As if he wasn't the one that deserved the title of Sith Killer.

 

* * *

 

 It had been two months since the Battle of Naboo when life at the Jedi Temple started to get... Agitated.

Someone had forced open the Holocron Vault, the most secure place in the already well guarded Temple. The thief had went in and out undetected and taken with them a good dozen of holocrons. The general opinion was that the culprit was a Sith, because only Force user could have a use for holocrons. 

As a consequence of that, Obi-Wan was often stopped in the hallways of the Temple by younglings and padawans wanting to have his opinion on the matter, as if he was suddenly a Sith expert. Knights and Master left him alone, being realistic about it. But they also seemed to notice him more, saluting him when they crossed his path, even those that he didn't knew personally.

A week after that, the disappearances started.

All across the galaxy, Force sensitive children that were still too young to have been brought to Coruscant's Temple were getting abducted from their homes. Master were sent to investigate but most of them came back with no results.

Some didn't came back at all.

Then it was Grey Jedi and FarmCorps. Very few of them, but still enough for it to convince the Council that those had not gone away on their own accord.

More Jedi were sent out. The name "Sith" was on every mouth, the Archives were filled with Jedi trying to learn as much as possible about this ancient enemy of the Order and the Training Halls were vibrating with the renewed energy spent in practice.

Six weeks after the heist, temples started to get robbed.

Antic scrolls, relics tied to the Force or ancient Jedi, kyber crystals... And just like with the Holocrons, no one had seen or heard or sensed anything, even though most of those places had Force sensitive guards or even a few Jedi stationed there.

Trials were passed at a rate rarely seen in the last thousand years. The Order needed more Knights out there and sending Padawans alone wasn't a something that was done. Of course, it wasn't done lightly. Knighthood was still only given to those deemed ready and the increased frequency was probably due to the fact that it hadn't been unusual for Padawans stay with their Masters longer than necessary "just to be sure". After all, there wasn't any reason to rush before. 

Obi-Wan wasn't among those numbers, though. Qui-Gon had been sent, alone, three weeks into the crisis, and had still not came back. He gave regular news and report, so there wasn't any need to worry, but it also meant that Obi-Wan was still not a Knight. Trials could only be passed in the presence of the Master, the sole exception being if they were dead.

So he was left on Coruscant to train, worry - which he wasn't supposed to do, but it was hard to stop in those conditions - and search for Anakin Skywalker.

Another thing he probably shouldn't have done.

He had looked into the Temple records - for Anakin or a similar case - and nothing. He had searched Coruscant's database and had found many Skywalkers and a few Anakins but nothing about the man he was looking for. He had even visited some of those places were he knew he would find races - the dangerous, often illegal kind - but nothing.

He was starting to believe that Anakin had lied when he had say he was living on the planet.

Or maybe he was the kind of person that wasn't on records. The kind of person that people that were going to see dangerous, often illegal races would know not to talk about with a Jedi.

 _Good ridance_ , thought Obi-Wan after a while. _It's not worth the headache_.

 _Besides, there is more important things to worry about_.

That's when things went quiet again.

 

* * *

 

 "Is this really a good time, Master? We should be helping, not going to some politician party."

"The very few leads we had went cold, Obi-Wan. I'm afraid there is little we can do now. And I thought you appreciated this politician."

"Padmé is alright", Obi-Wan acknowledged reluctantly.

They were in an elevator, going up one of Coruscant's tallest spires. It was five months after the Battle of Naboo, two after the Holocron Heist, three after the end of Padmé's term as Queen. She hadn't wished to renew it, although she could have. Instead she had preferred to take Sheev Palpatine's place - now Chancelor - as a Naboo's Senator. Her candidature had been approved with a large majority by her people and tonight was in her honor. 

 "It's the rest I don't really want to see," he added as the elevator stopped and they were admitted into a vast apartment by a shiny protocol droid.

They were led to the newly appointed Senator who was looking more gorgeous than ever, now that her people were safe and she could concentrate on other things than possible genocide -  _like her hairdo,_ Obi-Wan observed, admiring it reluctantly.  It also probably helped that she didn't had to wear those cumbersome ceremonial dresses anymore. She seemed to prefer a more fluid style now that, _of course_ , only enhanced her beauty.

 _You're ridiculous and this is irrelevant_ , Obi-Wan repeated to himself as he saluted her, smiling amiably. _Also, you're going to meditate a lot tomorrow. Release all that nonsense to the Force._

"Congratulation on your nomination, Senator," said Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan quickly echoed him, embarrassed at having forgotten why they were even here.

"Please, Master Jinn, Obi-Wan," Padmé said, taking their hands into hers and gratitude obvious on her face and making Obi-an even more embarassed. "There wouldn't be anything to be Senator of if it wasn't for you two."

 

* * *

 

 

He had finally escaped the clutches of the assistant to the Senator of Ryloth, a chubby Twi'lek named Nesti Ader that was probably old enough to be his mother (well, if you ignored the species issue) and who seemed convinced he would do the perfect husband.

Convincing the drunk politician that he wasn't actually allowed to marry had been very long and very frustrating and now he needed some calm and quiet. Leaving the main room, Obi-wan ventured into a hallway leading to four other rooms, swaying slightly. Ader had kept on shoving cups into his hands and he was suspecting that he was probably has drunk has her. Prodding through the Force informed him that the first one was occupied by a couple - _wow, rude_ \- while the second echoed with the lingering presence of Padmé. Probably her bedroom. The third one was a bathroom  and the last... Seemed free.

He slipped into the room and closed the double door softly before relaxing, sighing in relief.

"If it isn't the great Sith Killer." 

Obi-Wan turned abruptly to find - _what a surprise, just when I had stopped looking_  - Anakin, lounging on a sofa in a corner of the dimly lit room. He had a glass in one hand and a datapad seating on his knees. He was smirking, as usual, and his tone had been mocking. He probably had heard some of the conversations in the main room, even though Obi-Wan hadn't see him. In the state he was in and with Anakin's lack of presence in the Force, the other man could have been breathing done his neck the entire time that he wouldn't have noticed.

"Well hello there," he replied on the same tone, deciding at that instant to not give a damn. "It's been a while. What are you doing here, hiding in the shadows?"

"I'm not a great fan of politicians."

Obi-Wan chuckled - _tell me about it_ \- and went to sit in the armchair facing Anakin who went on:

"But Padmé invited me so..." he shrugged. "I come out there every now and then and go talk to her so she thinks I'm just having a good time in another corner. Which I am," he said, gesturing to his datapad.

"You sure look like it. What are you drinking?" Obi-Wan asked, gesturing to Anakin's half full glass.

"I'm not sure..." he said, looking dubiously at it. "But it's pretty good. Want some?"

 "Sure."

 

* * *

 

 "So _she_ was able to find you," Obi-Wan said after a moment of silence. He couldn't help but wince at the bitterness in his voice and hopped the other didn't.

They had talked for a while - about how Anakin had been travelling again, about their shared distaste for politicians, about what was up on the HoloNet - but now Obi-Wan wanted serious answers to his questions. 

Anakin's smile told him that he had indeed noticed.

" _I_ found her. Does it mean you've been searching for me? I'm flattered."

"Don't be." Anakin pouted and Obi-Wan was glad he had alcohol to blame for the fact he was founding it adorable. In spite - or maybe because - of this, he went on: "I've been searching for you because you're weird and suspicious."

Anakin's smile fell a bit.

"Really? How so?"

"Well there is this whole 'flying under Force-radar' thing. I've never seen anything like it. Didn't found anything in the Temple's Archives either."

 "I guess I just have a low Midichlorian count." Anakin shrugged but the gaze he had on Obi-Wan was weirdly intense.

"Yeah, right," Obi-Wan scoffed. "See, that's not something that is current knowledge among non-Jedi. Like, oh, I don't know, how to use a light saber!"

"You know I travel a lot..." his tone was now prudent and every trace of a smile had left his face.

"Doing what? And how do you get the founds?"

"Racing."

"I don't think so."

Anakin raised an eyebrow and repeated:

"Really?"

An inspiration - or maybe the Force, who knew?

"You know what? I think you're a thief. The way we met on Naboo..."

Obi-Wan stood up abruptly.

"Did you stole those Holocrons?"

"What Holocrons?" Anakin asked, frowning. He put his glass on the table in between them, next to his long forgotten datapad.

"Were there temples on your "best races of the galaxy" tour?"

"I think you've drunk en..."

The Jedi took a step back.

"Are you a Sith?"

His hand went to his belt. No saber. Why didn't he have his saber?

"Sit down, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan shook his head and took an other step back, getting ready to make a run for the door.

_How could I be so blind... He bested a Sith. He shows up again when things have gone quiet..._

" _I said SIT DOWN!_ " The power of the Force push emptied Obi-Wan's lungs as he was thrown back into a chair and he was more than a bit dizzy when he looked back up at Anakin

"You... What..."

He tried to move but he was stuck and it was only then that the reality of what just had happened hit him and panic started to rise in his intoxicated mind.

 _Shit, shit, shit, he_ is _a Force user..._

Anakin started to prowl toward him, a ferocious air on his handsome face. He stopped a feet away from Obi-Wan and stood there, looking at him, jaw tense and fists clenched.

Then he seemed to relax and opened his arms widely, as if to say "here I am."

"Alright. It was me. Happy?"

Obi-Wan snarled and buckled, trying to get rid of the Force binding but to no avail. Anakin was too strong.

"What are you doing with those kids?"

"Me? Nothing."

"Then who..."

"Let's not talk about this," Anakin said, frowning. "Anything else?"

"Are you a Sith?"

"Yes."

"Then why killing that Zabrak?"

"Darth Maul has always been a pain in the ass."

"Darth Maul?"

"That was his Sith name. I'm Darth Vader."

Obi-Wan was about to ask something else but Anakin held a hand and his throat closed, making him gasp in search for air.

 "Please, Obi-Wan, shut up. There is more important than what I've been doing."

The hold on his throat relaxed and he coughed violently. So violently that he didn't realize Anakin had taken the last step separating them until he was feeling him sitting on his lap, one long, muscled leg on each side.

_Force, Kenobi, who cares how his legs are, he's a Sith and he's probably gonna kill you._

"What the...?"

"First of all... This is driving me crazy."

Anakin grabbed viciously at Obi-wan’s braid, eliciting a barely contained whine of pain from the padawan and, while maintaining him in place, produced a small vibroknife from his jacket’s pocket.

“You won’t need that anymore.”

The smell of burnt hair filled the room.

Anakin tossed the braid behind him and sneaked his hand back into Obi-Wan's hair, soothing the disturbed stands

"Why did you do that?"

"Because you aren't Qui-Gon's apprentice's anymore."

"What?" Obi-Wan scoffed - which, okay, stupid thing to do when you have a Sith sitting on you.

"You're gonna be mine."

"I'd never..."

The hold on his throat was back.

Thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds this time and when Anakin released him, he stayed silent, bare for his heavy breath.

"That's better. Now... I'm afraid I'm gonna have to make you forget about this but not before..."

"You can't mind-trick a Jedi..." Obi-Wan interrupted.

Apparently he wasn't able to hold his tongue for more than a few seconds.

But Anakin didn't seemed to mind.

"Oh you'd be surprised by how easy it is... For me. Especially with the drunk ones. Like Qui-Gon the night you came back from Naboo. It was so easy to make him forget about me. Did you know that he was a sad drinker? There is this bar he goes often. He orders one, two, sometimes three SomnaSkol Red and then speaks to random strangers. He talks a great deal about some guy named Xanatos and how it is aaaall his fault, what happened to him. And also how he fears you're going to fall too... For what reason I can only imagine, you just radiate light. It's almost sickening." Anakin grinned. "Almost. Now could you please relax?"

 _Oh Force_. He could feel him, now, prodding against his mind. _Now, this is darkness_ , Obi-Wan thought, shuddering. 

He closed his eyes and tried to focus, to dress barriers against the aggression. But it was so hard to concentrate. One, he was drunk. And Anakin had been right about it, it made his mind weaker. Two, there was the weight of the other man against him, his breath against his cheek, his fingers slowly dragging against his scalp. And three, well... The darkness that was Anakin's mind was... Seducing. Unlike the Zabrak's had been, a swarm of anger and bitterness. No, Anakin was like embers under black coal, molten lava under volcanic rock, and Obi-Wan wanted to roll in it until it consumed him.

"Where have you been?" he sighed finally, the barriers of his mind lowering themselves, welcoming the fire. He opened his eyes again.

Anakin was staring at him, looking surprised but pleased by his surrender.

"Hidding."

"I've missed you."

And where did that came from, Obi-Wan didn't know. It wasn't like he had ever felt anything like that, was it?

Anakin smiled widely and leaned against him to whisper in his ear:

"So this is what's gonna happen..."

 

* * *

 

Obi-Wan woke up in his room, sunlight shining through the blinds and stabbing at is retinas as he opened his eyes, making him groan and turn his head into his pillows.

_I'm never drinking alcohol again._

He stayed in bed a few minutes before sighing loudly and finally getting up. He needed water. And a shower, probably. Crossing his room in direction of the fresher, he tried to remember how his night had ended.

He remembered the Twi'lek that wanted to marry him. He remembered running into Anakin, having a pleasant conversation with the other man. A few more drinks then... What? How did he even came back to the Temple?

He leaned over the fresher's sink and splashed water on his face, feeling marginally better for it hten straighten up  and looked into the mirror that was hook over it.

He stared blearily at his reflection for a moment and frowned. Something was missing. 

" _Oh kriffing hell_!"

How was he supposed to explain that to Qui-gon?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently killing Maul was considered to be Obi-Wan's Trial but  
> 1) I had already decided that his Trials would happen later for... reasons before I looked into what was up with the Trials  
> 2) since Qui-Gon isn't dead and Obi-Wan didn't really killed Maul, the experience didn't had any real impact on him and I believe the masters are able to feel that and still don't consider him ready.
> 
> Something funny: I found SomnaSkol Red on Wookieepedia and decided to use it just so I could inform you about this:  
> "SomnaSkol Red was an alcoholic beverage which was a favorite of Evan Chan.  
> He swore off drinking the beverage after witnessing Yoda, disguised as an R2-series astromech droid, evade another such unit working as security detail for the Chancellor Palpatine Spaceport."


	4. Delayed Demise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fucked up a perfectly good Padawan that's what you did Anakin. Look at him now, he has anxiety!
> 
> Also: moving on to Attack of the Clones!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previous chapter got some art.
> 
> So this was already a complicated chapter to write but when I tried to see a preview yesterday I lost a good chunk of what I had written because I had turned off the wi-fi by mistake earlier and had not noticed it :( So it took me a day more to write than what I intended (okay, I rewatched Rogue One and spent hours drawing Obi-Wan posing before the Order's symbol instead of writing about him but I TRIED okay?!)
> 
> Also this fic was supposed to have a horrible ending but I changed my mind and decided to just give it a horrible middle.

Qui-Gon had left a note for him in their shared living room, asking his Padawan to meet him in the Room of a Thousand Fountains once he had had breakfast.

Grimacing at the mere thought of food, Obi-Wan made his way through the Temple. He couldn't help but avert the gaze of the Jedi he passed.

One of them was bound to notice. One of them would talk. And then gone would be his reputation for modesty and respect of the Order. He would be the Padawan who had cut his braid ahead of his Trials.

Great.

Qui-Gon was mediating next to one of the fountains that gave its name to the vast room, seating cross legged on a flat stone.

"Join me, Obi-Wan."

He sat down in front of his Master and closed his eyes, reaching to the Force.

It wasn't an easy task today but he managed it and ten minutes later, he had all but forgotten about his previous anxiety.

"Are you trying to tell me something, Obi-Wan?"

He opened his eyes. Qui-Gon was looking at his right shoulder, where his braid should have been hanging.

_Welcome back anxiety._

"I..."

"Do you think you ought to be a Knight already or do you not wish to be my Padawan anymore? Haven't I done right by you?"

Obi-Wan gawked at his Master. Even if this had been voluntary, how could Qui-Gon think it had anything to do with him?

"No, Master! I didn't..."

"Do you think the great Sith Killer has nothing left to learn?" said Qui-Gon, not listening.

" _I didn't cut it_!" he shouted. He saw a few of the Jedi scattered around the room turn their way at the sound and lowered his voice. "It was gone when I woke up."

Qui-Gon blinked slowly, like chasing away a bad dream.

"Really?" he muttered.

"Yes. I might have drunk a bit more than I intended last night, and I'm not absolutely sure of how my evening ended. But I can tell you this: I. Didn't. Cut it. And even though it shouldn't, it pains me to know you believe me capable of it, Master."

"No indeed it shouldn't", said Qui-Gon slowly. 

Obi-Wan waited for him to add something but he didn't. Actually, he even closed his eyes again, going back to he's meditation.

"And that's all?" he couldn't help but say. "You judge me based on something that wasn't my fault and when you end up being wrong, you just... shrug it away?"

Qui-Gon sighed and said, without opening his eyes.

"It probably was your fault, anyway, my young Padawan. It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't "drink more than you intended". Let this be your lesson. Irresponsible actions have unfortunate consequences. Consequences that can and will alter the perception people have of you."

There was a profound injustice in all that, Obi-Wan was sure. But the word stuck in his throat - that was however still raw and, yeah, okay, maybe he had overdone it. This, however unfair he thought it was, was the Jedi way. Accept he had fucked up. Accept the consequences. To not get mad, to not feel hurt.

So instead of protesting further, he said the first thing that came to his mind, trying to steer the conversation away from his missing braid:

"I saw Anakin at yesterday's party. He and Padmé seem to be seeing each other quite fre..."

Qui-Gon stood up and walked away without a word.

"...quently. Master?" He stood up and took one step to follow the man but Qui-Gon ignored him.

So he stood there.

And sat back in a meditative position, closed his eyes and tried to find balance.

What emerged instead was a memory. Except... It had never happened. Of this he was sure. Maybe the very end of last night was a bit muddled but this couldn't possibly have happened.

The atmosphere was charged with tension. With heat and danger. Someone was sitting on his lap and was pressing against him, thighs spread to bring them close, torso against torso.

It was Anakin.

He could almost feel his weight on him, the grip of his fingers in his hair, the light touch of lips against his ear, the murmur of words that eluded him.

Obi-Wan's eyes blinked open and he blushed furiously.

Where had this came from?

Sure he found Anakin to be quite attractive but this... This was a bit too much.

“Force help me!” he lamented aloud.

This obsession he had with the man was becoming ridiculous. He had met him once! Well, twice, now. But that second time had only been the day before.

And before that he had went to great lengths to find him, even searching for him among the Coruscanti racing crowd.

_Why did I do that?_

It wasn't like him. He wasn't a stalker. He didn't believe in love at first sight or other nonsense - well it isn't like I'm in love anyway.. just... weirdly obsessed -

"You seem troubled, young one."

Obi-Wan looked up. It was Master Mundi, his wrinkled face looked as compassionate as ever.

"Anything you wish to talk about?"

"No, Master. It's alright."

The Cerean considered him for a moment before saying:

"Did you passed your Trials overnight?"

Obi-Wan barely stopped himself from groaning.

"No, Master Mundi. It was an accident."

"Hum. if you say so, young one. Well" Mundi said, turning and starting to walk away. "Try to keep your thoughts in check. Lust doesn't have its place in those gardens."

To say that Obi-Wan was mortified would have been the understatement of the century. 

 

* * *

 

Their last mission had been a disaster. The diplomatic way had ended up failing and the conflict - a border dispute on Asion - had very nearly come to a bloodshed. The situation had resolved itself by sheer luck - "There is no such thing as luck," had said Qui-Gon. "There is only the will of the Force." "Well then," had replied Obi-Wan. "The Force sure likes to makes us pass a fumbling idiots." - when the area had been ravaged by an earthquake. It had created a rift between the two territories, settling once and for all the dispute. It had also greatly impoverished the two parties whose only option had been to collaborate to survive, which had in turn made the new border more a hindrance than an advantage.

The thing was, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were out of sync. A new distance had settled between them and they were both distracted, Obi-Wan by his... friend (As he had resolved to call him.) and Qui-Gon... Well, Force knew what occupied Qui-Gon's mind, but it sure looked grim.

Two days after they'd come back, an other invitation came from Senator Amidala, this time addressed only to Obi-Wan.

He had expected another fancy party but when he got there, the apartment was quiet and seemingly empty, except for Padmé. Maybe this invitation was only a pretext. Maybe the Senator was in trouble and needed to talk to a Jedi she trusted?

_Then why not call Qui-Gon?_

He was escorted in by a quirky golden protocol droid that presented itself as C3-PO and was left to wait into a spacious terrace that apparently doubled as a summer living room.

"Obi-Wan! You made it!" exclaimed Padmé as she came outside, about two minutes later. "I wasn't sure you would be back already, but I'm going back to Naboo soon and Anakin wanted us to spend an evening together before that."

"Anakin is coming?" 

Great. Formidable. That wasn't going to be an awkward evening at all.

He arrived maybe twenty minutes later, wearing some kind of dark suit with a half cape attached to it by a large silver chain, as if he was some kind of rich Coruscanti high-born. Which he actually could be, as far as Obi-Wan knew.

And dinner did start kind of awkward. Obi-Wan actually didn't knew the other two that well and he didn't had the - disputable - advantage of alcohol to help the conversation flow this time. And was it wishful thinking or did Anakin seemed a bit cold toward Padmé? She seemed enamored with him in a way that seemed out of character but,  _well,_ Obi-Wan thought, shrugging internally,  _people tend to behave strangely when they're in love._ At least from his own experience. He himself had lost count of the times his talents for diplomacy had eluded him when talking to the beautiful and fierce Duchess of Mandalore, Satine Kryze, who he had been pretty sure he had been in love with, for a time.

But soon enough they all relaxed and Obi-Wan had grown comfortable enough to start complaining about his life as a Jedi.

"I should have been knighted already," he mumbled. "I'm old enough. And I've killed a Sith."

He looked up to see Anakin smiling at him. He seemed satisfied, for what reason, Obi-Wan had no idea.

"Something funny?" he he asked, put off.

"No, Anakin said, turning serious. "I agree with you. You've obviously surpassed your Master. He couldn't kill this Sith, even though he tried, you told me."

"I wouldn't say _surpassed_..."

Anakin shrugged.

"You succeeded where he failed. In my books that means you've bested him."

"It's not as simple when you're a Jedi. My Master has many other talents..."

"Such as?"

Obi-Wan held a finger. Paused. Put his hand back onto his lap.

"Actually I'm not in the mood to sing his praises."

Both Padmé and Ankin laughed at that and the conversation veered off.

 

* * *

 

When Padmé went to bed - "Early Senate session tomorrow morning" she'd say, retreating with a kiss on the cheek for Anakin and a smile for Obi-Wan -  they moved back to the terrace.

They were drinking - one last drink for Anakin, a first for Obi-Wan who had prudently stayed away from alcohol all evening - leaning against the railing and looking at Coruscant's nightlife under them, comparing the places they found most interesting in the planetwide city.

"I've seen some impressing races here," said Obi-Wan.

"Really?"

"Did you know about those happening in the _garbage system_?"

Anakin laughed at that, a genuine laugh that Obi-Wan decided he would really like to hear more often.

"Oh yeah, I did hear of them. And decided to see for myself. I won. Got a pretty impressive scar as a souvenir."

"Speaking of scar..." 

Obi-Wan raised a tentative hand and trailed the scar that ran from Anakin's forehead to the top of his cheek. 

Anakin didn't move.

"Where did you get that one?"

"Now wouldn't you want to know that?" Anakin said, laughing.

That one wasn't a laugh that he liked to hear. It was a laugh craft in order to hide secrets.

Obi-Wan let his hand fall and turned back to stare at Coruscant.

"You could have just said that "I don't want to talk about it" or something like that. I wouldn't have insisted."

"So polite of you."

They stayed silent for a moment then Anakin said: 

 "We should do this more often."

 

* * *

 

And they did. Every now and then, between Obi-Wan's missions, when Padmé had Senate session to attend to, when Anakin took a break from all this travelling and racing that seemed to be his sole occupation. They were meeting at Padmé's apartment. Always. Obi-Wan still didn't have a clue of where Anakin was living and his disturbingly obsessive behavior from months prior dissuaded him to investigate further. And obviously, the Temple wasn't the place for such meetings.

Months passed that way, and Obi-Wan was content. Not _happy_ , but things were going well enough. His relationship with his Master wasn't ideal but it had lost the coldness of those few weeks after the Padmé's party. He had two friends with whom he could take a break from the seriousness and emotional void that was the Temple. His Trials were scheduled for before the end of the year.

He had yet to get hold of that... attraction he felt for Anakin, but he was managing it well enough. It was easy enough to ignore when he knew nothing would come of it. He was a Jedi and Anakin was in a now month old relationship with a charming, brave, intelligent woman. It would die off eventually.

 

* * *

 

The Galactic Republic was in crisis. A Separatist movement led by former Jedi Master Count Dooku, had declared itself and was now threatening the peace, dragging systems after systems in its rebellion. There was talks of a Military Creation Act in the Senate, with the goal of forming a standing army for the Republic's protection.

"Fallen to the Dark Side, Count Dooku has," Obi-Wan had heard Master Yoda said to Qui-Gon. This, of course, wasn't the official line.

But it should have been, the young man thought. Firstly because there wasn't really an official line concerning Dooku. Secondly, because honesty was supposed to be a value hold dear by the Jedi.

Only when you were a Padawan, apparently. 

Qui-Gon had looked stricken by the news. Dooku had been his Master.

A few hours after this, Obi-Wan's holopad started beeping insistently.

"Anakin? What is it?"

The young man seemed furious.

"Padmé's life has been threatened. Her decoy is dead."

"Is she alright?"

"Yes, yes, she's fine. Just shaken. Cordé had been with her since she was elected queen." 

"So, what are you asking me, exactly?"

"I... Nothing."

"Then why are you calling me? And don't you want someone to assure her protection?"

Anakin tiny blue silhouette waved his tiny blue artificial hand.

"No. Now that she's here, it's been taken care of..."

"Then what..."

"Err... I guess I just wanted someone to rant to." 

 

* * *

 

It was Anakin who came to open the door, obviously still in a bad mood. He stared at them a moment then stepped away to let them pass. 

Qui-Gon stomped in, not even looking at Anakin as he made his way into the apartment, which Obi-Wan found mightily rude, but, _go figure_ , even he had sometimes a hard time following his Master's oddities.

Anakin caught his arm as he passed him and said, keeping his voice low:

"I thought I said it wasn't necessary."

"The Council didn't seems to think so."

"Those kriffing old men."

"You know some of them are women. And some of them are not exactly _men_..." Obi-Wan joked.

Anakin rolled his eyes at him and led the way to the living room.

There he went to stand behind Padmé's sofa, arm crossed and expression defiant as Qui-Gon was explaining to Padmé why they were there.

*I don’t need more security, I need answers. I want to know who’s trying to kill me,* she said dismissively.

"Maybe someone who didn't want you to vote against the Act," Obi-Wan advanced.

"Against the Act?" Padmé repeated looking confounded. "Why would I do that? No, the Republic needs to be protected by any mean!"

 _Well_ that _was a suprise,_ thought Obi-Wan Padmé was always going on about pacifism and diplomacy. She had repeated that retaliating would only lead to an open conflict and the ruin of the galaxy. That the only way toward peace was negotiation.

"Anyway..." he trailed. *We will find out who’s trying to kill you, Padmé. I promise you.*

*We will not exceed our mandate, Obi-Wan,* Qui-Gon chastised him.

A loud, aggravated sigh echoed in the room. Everyone ignored it except Obi-Wan who looked at Anakin. His friend was scolding at Qui-Gon, for whatever reason.

*I meant that in the interest of protecting her, Master, of course.*

 

* * *

 

"This was the stupidest thing I've ever saw."

"Excuse me? Wasn't it you who jumped through the window and started the whole chase?"

"Yes but I'm a Jedi!"

"And I knew you would catch me. With your super Jedi senses."

"Force help me, Anakin..."

Qui-Gon was waiting in Padmé's living room, looking as impatient and irritated as a Jedi could be.

Well that was going to be some top quality sermon.

 

* * *

 

 Obi-Wan was awaken by the sound of angry voices. He straightened on the sofa where he’d fallen asleep - apparently not too long ago since it was still night - mentally chastising himself for not staying awake. Whatever Anakin thought, it was his duty to keep the Senator safe.

Getting up, he started in the direction of the voices but he hadn’t made three step when he heard something that made him stop.

The distinctive sound of a light saber switching on.

A cry echoed in the apartment, prompting Obi-Wan to move. He called his own weapon to his hand, made his way toward the room where the altercation was going on.

But before he could open them, he double doors blasted open and Anakin was projected into the living room.

Qui-Gon followed, saber out and looking furious.

It chilled Obi-Wan to the bone.

Jedi weren’t supposed to get angry. Anger leaded to the Dark Side. Even legitimate anger wasn’t something Jedi were supposed to indulge in.

To see Qui-Gon, the man who had at first refused to take him as a Padawan because of his rage issues, give into that same feeling so easily…

What could possibly have happen to lead to such an impossible situation?

“Don’t you see?” Said Anakin, sitting up slowly, clutching at his side with his flesh hand. “I only have to push and you’ll all fall!”

Then he said something. Something in a language Obi-Wan knew he didn’t understood but still resonated oddly in him, the meaning of each word blooming in his mind like a venomous flower.

_Listen. Obey. Kill._

It all suddenly became so clear. He had an order and nothing else mattered.

He switched on his light saber and threw himself at Qui-Gon.

The Jedi clearly didn't expect this and Obi-Wan managed to strike at him, slicing at his left shoulder, not very deep but still Qui-Gon gasped in pain as he stepped back, trying to put some distance between them. Obi-Wan pressed on mercilessly. The word "kill" was echoing in his head, again and again, erasing any connection, be it the years of shared life or the master-apprentice Force-bond they had forged. He wanted to bury his saber in this man with a rage that wasn't his, that he could feel coming from outside.

Soon that rage was joined by an anger that was all his as Qui-Gon only defended himself.

_Does he not think I could kill him? Does he not want to stop me?_

"Fight back!" he snarled at the man who shook his head and maintained his defensive position.

He attacked again. And again. And again. Always Qui-Gon was eluding him, keeping out of his reach.

But he was tiring. The Jedi Knight wasn't that young anymore. Not compared to Obi-Wan. He was getting slower.

With one last powerful strike, Obi-Wan finally disarmed him.

As his light saber was sent flying across the room, Qui-Gon help up his hands and... Force-pushed Obi-Wan onto the fragile glass table that stood behind him. It broke it under his weight, drawing a howl of pain out of him as shards sunk through his robes and into his back. Then his light saber was wrenched from his hand and Qui-Gon was standing over him.

"Stop! Obi-Wan! You've got to resist this! Fight! Don't let the Dark Side win you over! Don't let that _Sith_ take you away!"

_Sith? There is no Sith here, just Anakin..._

Anakin who had just been attacked, had been _hurt_ by Obi-Wan's Master.

He looked behind Qui-Gon and met his friend's eyes. Anakin was in pain. He could see it. He could _feel_ it, seeping from him adding to his own pain, fueling the rage.

"Whatever he promised you, it's a _lie_!" Qui-Gon continued, catching Obi-Wan's attention again.

_But he never promised me anything..._

"That's all the Dark Side is, Obi-Wan. Lies and deception and _pain_!"

"You're the only one causing pain right now," Obi-Wan said, groping behind him. He found a long, sharp fragment that bit into his fingers as he grabbed it. Then, calling to the Force, he launched himself at his Master, pining him to the ground.

And thrusted the shard into Qui-Gon's chest.

 


	5. What She Saw In The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé see something she shouldn't have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOOOOOOOO LET'S SWITCH POV.
> 
> Also you know those people who came into Padme’s room after the attack in the movie? Yeah they aren’t in this.
> 
> Also this chapter is shorter but I added one to the ten I had planned.

Padmé had went back to bed - not _her_ bed though, she wasn’t about to sleep in a room with a broken window and where two murderous and disgusting... things had tried kill her, no she had taken the guest room - after Anakin and Obi-Wan had came back from their wild chase through Coruscant. She didn’t wait for Anakin to join her - they almost never spend the night together, the rare times they did being when he fell asleep after they had sex - and tried to find sleep.

But sleep didn’t come.

Instead she found herself thinking about the death of her people the day before. About Anakin’s rage and how he had said that “this had to be a test” and then refused to explain. About Qui-Gon strange questions.

The Jedi had asked her about her new security detail, and if she trusted the thuggish looking men that were now stationed in the building. She had say that she trusted Anakin’s choices in the matter, and Qui-Gon had turned to leave.

And then stopped.

And then turned back.

“Who did you said chose them?”

“Anakin?”

Qui-Gon had turned halfway, as if about to leave again. He was suddenly looking uncharacteristically distressed.

"Master Jinn? Are you alright?"

He had held up a hand to ask her to wait but then made the kind of face people do when they're about to be sick.

"Qui-Gon?!"

The Jedi had closed his eyes and then:

"Oh. Oh Force..."

She was about to ask what it was all about when they had heard Anakin and Obi-Wan come back, bickering like the two loud teenagers they tended to revert to whenever then spent too much time in each other's presence.

Qui-Gon had straightened, schooled his expression into the mask of calmness that it usually was and went to have a word with is very imprudent Padawan.

Padmé turned around in her bed, now thinking about that second tentative of assassination. The Separatists - who else could it be? - needed to be stopped. Whoever forced his own men to kill themselves when confronted to failure merited nothing but death.

She blinked into the darkness. That was not the kind of thoughts she usually would have.

But she had just been threatened, one of her oldest friend was dead because of her and she was so tired...

She finally fell into a deep sleep.

 

* * *

 

A shout awakened her. 

She was vaguely aware it wasn't the first one but she was tired and her sleeping mind had apparently decided to ignore the commotion until then.

She opened one eye then the other when a loud crash echoed in the apartment.

"What is it this time," she mumbled to herself, getting up and picking a night robe before making her way to her living room.

_"...the only one causing pain right now!"_

Then an other, terrible shout made her startle and press her step.

The silence had come back when she arrived before the opened door and she stopped there, trying to assess the situation.

The room was shrouded in darkness, the only lights being those of the surrounding buildings and passing ships. Ornaments had been smashed or thrown around and one of her sofas had fallen on its backside.

 _Wow, I must have been_ really _tired._

A cry of anguish rose from a huddled form in the center of the room, next to where had until tonight stood a glass table. It was now a pile of shards, some of them dark with what appeared to be blood.

"What did I do?"

It was Obi-Wan's voice. She was about to run to him but something held her back. Something had obviously gone extremely wrong here and she had such a bad feeling about it that instead of going to comfort the prostrated Jedi, she just shifted uneasily and, doing so, finally saw what he was crying over.

Qui-Gon Jinn.

The Jedi was his on back, his face looking prematurely colorless in the blinking rays of light of the Coruscanti aerial traffic. A long piece of glass was stuck in his chest.

Padmé fell to her knees, the sound of her body hitting the ground muffled by the carpet covering it. A carpet that was now soaking with Qui-Gon's blood.

_Who did this?_

A groan of pain made her startle and tear her attention away from the corpse.

It was Anakin, hauling himself from a corner of the room where he had been hidden from her sight by the shadows.

"You did what was necessary," he said, letting his eyes leave Obi-Wan's form only to check on what was either a blaster or a light saber wound on his left side, if his burned clothes were any indication.

"No." Obi-Wan's voice was rasp, his own pain - physical? mental? probably both - clearly audible. "I shouldn't had... I don't know why I... But I _wanted_ to."

Padmé gasped. Did _Obi-Wan_ killed Qui-Gon? How did that happen?

The noise had caught Anakin's attention and, as his eyes focused on her, she was pushed against the wall, not violently but firmly enough that she would have yelped in surprised, if only any sound had been allowed to pass her lips.

_He's using the Force! But how...?_

Going back to ignoring her, Anakin let himself fall back to the ground next to Obi-Wan and grabbed him by the shoulders, making him turn away from his dead Master. His forefront was painted in blood when only specks of it had been on his back.

"You _had_ to. He wanted to kill me. Because you were too _attached_ , he said. Because "attachment leads to the Dark Side", he said." Anakin shook his head, looking suddenly amused and this, more than the fact he was a Force user, was what made Padmé truly afraid of him. "He was raving. He wouldn't have stop. You did good, Obi-Wan."

"What am I going to do", said Obi-Wan, panic raising in his voice. "The Council is going to want me dead."

"Shhh, don't worry." Anakin's voice was tender, as if he was talking to a child. _Or a lover_ , thought Padmé. _He never talked to me like that_.

She was beginning to think it was probably a good thing. 

_I'm so breaking up with him after this._

"I'm going to take care of it. No one will know."

"No." Obi-Wan tried to tear himself from Anakin but it was as if any strength had left him and he let his forehead fall against the other man's chest. "No, they have to know he's... They have to know he's dead. I can't pass the Trials if they just think he's missing."

Anakin looked actually surprised at that and Padmé couldn't fault him. But, hey, Jedi priorities.

"You don't have to pass the Trials. You don't need to go back to the Order."

"Yes. Yes I do. I have nothing else."

Anakin frowned at that but said nothing.

"I've never been so angry before," said Obi-Wan so softly Padmé almost didn't hear it. "No even when I was a youngling. But it felt like something I _wanted_ to do, not like something I _had_ to do."

"You did what was necessary," Anakin repeated, stroking Obi-Wan's hair.

The Jedi finally relaxed into Anakin's hold, and Padmé wanted to scream at him not to.

_Do not trust him._

"Now let's get you cleaned up."

He hauled Obi-Wan up with a surprising ease, considering his wound and started toward a door that led to another set of guest rooms.

Obi-Wan never noticed her and the two men let her there to stare at Qui-Gon's corpse.

 

* * *

 

A few minutes later, Anakin came back in the room.

"You and me," he said, considering her gravely. "We're going to have a talk in the morning. But for now, _sleep_."

Then he moved his hand before her eyes and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is horrible. And kinda awkward.
> 
> Also I actually have no idea if they can pass the Trials without the Master being present (I mean, if he's not dead) but it seems kinda logical and I said that at some point so I'm sticking to it.
> 
> Next chapter will be Anakin's POV.


	6. Gone To War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin remembers the good ol'time.  
> And then it's Clone Wars time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Big chapter today! (yeah I got a bit carried away. I thought I would never finish this, tbh. I probably could have break it down in two chapters but it didn't really felt right. Also I kinda wrote it out of order so I hope I didn't forget a line or something)

His orders had been clear and simple: gain the queen’s trust. Make himself useful. Seduce her if possible.

 _If possible_ , had scoffed Anakin as his ship had jumped out of hyperspace over the hated dust colored sphere of Tatooine.

His awkward years were far behind him and he prided himself in being able to seduce almost anyone finding humanoids to be suitable partners. For the most weird species out there, he wasn't too sure. He had once been told that he was one of the most hideous being ever by some guy with tentacles sprouting from were his eyes should have been had he been human. Where his actual eyes had been Anakin had no idea but he must have had _some_ , if the concept of hideousness meant anything to him.

Amidala would have to be the coldest woman ever if he wasn't able to _at least_ win her friendship.

Of course he had knew about the decoys. He had assisted to enough official events at Theed's court that he was able to recognize the queen, with or without her heavy make-up. And the fact that her given name was Padmé Naberrie wasn't exactly a secret. He had been surprised when he had realized the Jedi wasn't aware of this. For all their so called wisdom, they were extremely bad at fact-checking. 

So when he had seen her leave the ship with the two Jedi, he had follow them to Mos Espa.

And how fucked up was that, that among all the cities of Tatooine, they had landed near the one where he had grow up? Sometimes he was really thinking that the Force had decided to make his life a damn joke, Chosen One of the Sith or not.

But hey, at least he had finally made it into the Boonta Eve Classic. And spectacularly won it, with that. 

What he had told to Obi-Wan was true. It was his childhood dream to win this damn race. Just as putting that sithspit of Sebulba in his rightful place: not on the podium. The Dug was one other of his childhood's banes, right there with sand and the constant knowledge that he was someone else's property.

Seriously, what an asshole you needed to be in order to rain down perpetually on an innocent child's dreams? But from the day he had set foot - or hand - on Tatooine, two years before Anakin's own departure, the Dug had seem to take great pleasure at ruining his, insulting him, bringing him down, sabotaging each of his attempt at building his own pod.

And, _of course_ , they had to walk into his ancient master's shop. Like there wasn't a dozen other junk dealers in town. _A trip into my very own memory lane_. Anakin had rolled his eyes and followed the threesome inside. There he had made contact... Quite literally.

If he had to justify his action to anyone, he would have say that it was prudence. Testing the waters and all that. But it was actually curiosity that made him lower his shield. He hadn't had the occasion to meet a lot of Jedi in his life, and he wanted to take a peek at this one, without the filtering of his own defenses.

It was short but intense, the Light almost dizzying. _Oh so that's how it is_. He retreated quickly, building back the fortress that made him invisible to Force users and hanging a smile on his face.

_Let's get this show on the road._

Once they were gone, he asked the Toydarian to tell him exactly what he had discussed with the Jedi - he hadn't be that hard to convince, really. A few pieces thrown on the counter and the shop owner had readily talked down the outlanders, going on and on about their arrogance and how the man had wanted to pay him with _daitaris, can you imagine?_  

He had realized that the queen would be stranded here if she couldn't get new pieces for her ship - and him with her.

And he had already spent too much time on this Force forsaken planet for his own taste.

His plan only take a few seconds to form. Of course, like all of Anakin's plans, it revolved mostly about how the Force seemed to tie itself in knots around him and provide him with solutions to the most uncertain parameters. This uncertainty didn't really bother him, as it left him more focused on _reacting_ than worrying unnecessarily about things he couldn't control.

So he bought the clunky podracer that Watto had somewhere in the back. He was surprised to find it there, to be honest. Even if the thing was over ten years old and the individual parts even older, it was far too long for valuable material to stay in the Toydarian shop. He stood before it for a moment, evaluating the work that needed to be done. He cringed at the view of some parts. His ten years old self had been skilled but he had learned much since.

Once the pod secured in a loaned hangar, he started along the dusty street, focusing on the Force signature of the young Jedi. He was the easiest to track, shining like a beacon among the duller life forms that made up the population of Mos Espa.

As he was about to reach the little group, he had stumbled upon Sebulba and hadn't be able to resist to make himself known to him. True to himself, he had managed to provoke the Dug in less than a minute.

And Obi-Wan had intervened. 

_The Force is with me._

He had led them to one of the local inns. He wasn't really staying there, having arrived on the planet at the same time as the queen and the Jedi, but he remembered the place for having been owned by the parents of one of his childhood friends, one of the rare that wasn't a slave.

They had settled in the common room and Anakin had begun his work.

He was pretty confident concerning Amidala. The young woman apparently like to hear about other planets. Her obligations, taken up at a young age, obviously hadn't gave her the occasion to travel. She knew a great deal about politics and the costumes of diverse worlds, but she was avid to learn about the little things, the kind of anecdotes that one couldn't learn in the databanks or on the HoloNet. So she ended up being pretty easy to connect with, given that Anakin had been sent on errands across the galaxy since he had been around thirteen.

As for the two Jedi...

Befriending them wasn't part of his mission. But his task would certainly get easier if he did. So he tried to include them as much as possible. Jinn - one more funny "coincidence", that he'd met Tyranus former Padawan on that mission - had stayed coldly polite but Kenobi... Well, that guy had to be one of the most adorable thing Anakin had seen in his life. He didn't talked a whole lot that night but what he did say was clever and he had a dry sense of humor. He also had a smile that could probably do ravages if he were to put it to good use and a clear gaze that seemed to take in everything around him and had stayed focused on Anakin for the greatest part of their dinner.

He had felt the young Jedi reach for him constantly that evening, looking more and more frustrated as time went by. It had make Anakin smirk harder.

Proposing them to bet had been has much in his own interest than the mission's. He expected to have to put in a great effort to convince them, and for Padmé to be the most interested - she was the one whose people were dying while they were stranded there, after all - but Jinn had been the one to accept, almost immediately. 

When the other three had went to their rooms, Anakin had braced himself for the onslaught of sand that was awaiting him outside and went back to the hangar sheltering his podracer, where he had spent all night working on the damn thing and, well, it wasn't his best work but it would had to do the trick.

And it did. 

 

* * *

 

Once back on Corruscant, Anakin had excused himself from the queen's company and went to his Master's local residence, were he had to wait for the best part of the day before he could make his report.

"What was Maul doing there?!" he had asked angrily when he had finally came in. "I had the situation under control!"

"Maybe," his Master had said calmly, crossing the room to go sit into an imposing chair that tried to pretend it was not a throne. "But one can never be too sure."

"Did you order him to attack?"

"Now did he, really?" his Master said, his surprise evidently fake and quite frankly, insulting. "Well I'll have to talk to him about that. Now, your report, my young apprentice. And don't hold any detail."

Anakin had contained his rage - and how ironical was that? - and obeyed.

He didn't had a choice.

 

* * *

 

Getting past the blockade had only been a matter of having the right codes.

Getting into Theed's Palace had only been a matter of having the right tools.

He was at an intersection in the maintenance vents - the right one leading to where that overgrown frog of Nute Gunray was hiding - when he had felt it. The swarm of power coming from the power plant. A fight was going on there. Focusing for a few moments, he had discerned three distinctive Force signature. Maul, Jinn and Kenobi.

 _Oh, hell. Not_ again.

Well the queen would have to win her planet back on her own.

He'd taken left.

And almost got his head chopped off for his pain.

He could see that Obi-Wan didn't trust him. He would have been a fool to. He didn't had any real explanation for his presence on Naboo. He had thought he would just.. Wing it. As usual.

Anyway, he was given a little more time to figure it out when the Jedi had thrown himself at Maul.

He had to admit that that duel had been pretty impressive. Obi-Wan was obviously skilled and Anakin was sure that if he had just _let go_ , given into his emotions instead of contemning them, he would have won.

And, well, Anakin couldn't blame anyone for loosing a fight when they got distracted by looking at _him_ , now could he?

Killing Maul had totally made his week.

One, he was really fucking tired of that Zabrak. He hadn't exactly asked to be trained in the Sith arts, but he knew he was better than Maul so that the fact that his Master did not seem to think him able to handle the missions he was given without sending another to remove potential obstacles - that actually weren't, he was doing just fine working around the two Jedi - was getting seriously annoying.

Two, well, he _liked_ Obi-Wan. 

And three, nothing better than a good light saber duel to put you in a good mood.

Headbutting him had been petty. And stupid. But it had also led to some quite nice time - well, the talk hadn't been exactly the nicest he would ever had with him, but the rest was -  between the hands of Obi-Wan.

 

* * *

 

That Qui-Gon was a damn fool. Spilling over Jedi business like that in some random dive? What a fucking disgrace.

But it was the way he’d been talking about Obi-Wan that had made Anakin truly mad.

The Jedi obviously didn’t trust in his apprentice. Even though he had seemed proud of his accomplishment - which was actually Anakin’s but, whatever - he hadn’t stopped bitching about short comings that in Anakin’s eyes seemed more like qualities than anything else.

He had been thrilled to hear about how Obi-Wan had been before Qui-Gon had put his hand on him - a little ball of rage and frustration, about to be shipped off to the AgriCorps because of it - and much less so about how the Jedi had handled the situation. That man was a dick, the produce of an Order made of dicks. He couldn’t wait until he discovered about his Master switching side. Given how he was still mulling over his failure with that Xanatos guy, he was in for some hard reality check the day the whole thing blew over.

It was that evening that Anakin decided that, one day, Obi-Wan would join them. Would join him. May it be the next month or in ten years, but he was going to fall. 

 

* * *

 

Their Order was growing slowly, but steadily in number.

He had been told that, for the last millennium,  the Sith had constricted themselves with a strict Rule of Two. One Master and one Apprentice. But it had changed in the last decade. His Master was building back the Order. And for that he needed new warriors. 

It had been Anakin's mission to steal the Jedi's Holocrons. He had quite unique gifts that none of the others possessed. Hiding himself from Force sensitives was one. Mind manipulation was an other. The Sith liked to pretend that it was something there were above of but in reality, giving in to the Dark Side usually deprived one from the capacity to focus their mind one such task. 

But Anakin was too powerful to be bothered by it.

 

* * *

 

In Padmé's apartment, he could almost forget about his Master grand plan, about the oncoming war, about the triggers he had placed in the mind of the man that had became his friend.

Almost.

Because he was lying. Everyday. Lying to Padmé, for whom he had admiration and affection, but not the love that was supposed to be their. Lying to Obi-Wan, who he was pretty sure he was falling in love with but kept at a distance because the day he would open to him, he would have to do it all the way and it was too dangerous yet, for both of them. To his Master and, well, he was used to that, but he couldn't wait until the day he would be able to shout the truth in his face.

 

* * *

 

The assassination attempt came as a surprise.

This wasn't supposed to happen. He was taking care of the Senator just fine. No need to frighten her or to actually _kill_ her.

So, was it a test? A push against his security, _"let's see how the boy reacts this time"_? Or was it a warning? To not grow complaisant, to not attach himself to that woman that was only one of the multiple tasks he had been given?

_Guess what old man, she isn't the one you should be worried about._

* * *

 

Honestly, he had expected Obi-Wan to lash at him once the effect of the trigger words had dissipated. He hadn't be very subtle in his use of the Sith language. But it seemed that killing his Master had caused Obi-Wan to go into some kind of shock and he had let himself get manhandled. Anakin had led him to one of Padmé's guest rooms, sat him on the bed then went into the adjacent fresher and found a medpac. He'd taken a few painkillers for himself before going to Padmé to put her into a Force induced sleep. He was really not looking forward to having to tweak her memories in the morning. Influencing her was so fucking hard, even for him. Nearly as hard as with a sober Jedi.

He should have put her to sleep immediately. He groaned at his own stupidity. This was to put in the same category of embarrassing decisions as this "headbutt the Zabrak" incident. He was so damn lucky no one remembered that one or he probably would still be hearing about it.

He came back to the bedroom where Obi-Wan was still sitting idly, gaze unfocused.

_Kriff, I hope I didn't broke him._

That would be just his luck.

"Give me your hand."

Obi-Wan complied without a word. They kept silent as Anakin cleaned it up and bandaged it.

Then he knelt before stunned Jedi who frowned at him, perplexed.

"I'm gonna clean up your back," Anakin said, unclasping the Jedi's belt, throwing it aside and then doing the same with the blood stained tabard he was wearing over his tunics.

"Arms up."

Obi-Wan gave him a look that clearly said that he wasn't pleased with having to move in any way but obeyed, hissing as the movement pulled at his back. Anakin pulled off over and under tunic in one go and sent them to join the heap that was forming on the floor and went to sit on the bed behind Obi-Wan.

There wasn't has many cuts as he had feared, given the force of the impact. He extracted a few fragments, luckily not long or sharp enough that they would have caused irreparable damages.

"You did something to me," Obi-Wan murmured finally.

"You don't seem to really mind," Anakin said, prudently.

"I'm having a hard time thinking right now. I can't seem to clear my mind." He stayed silent for a moment. "Also, you're distracting."

Anakin's hands stilled on Obi-Wan's shoulders.

"Really? How so?"

"You're taking up all the surrounding space in the Force. I can't find peace. You're too loud. Too... Agitated."

Anakin blinked. He had lowered his shields earlier, allowing his mind to connect with Obi-Wan’s letting his pain and anger seep into the other man’s head.

He hadn’t given it more thoughts after that, not bothering to cloak himself again.

It seemed like it was now playing in his favor.

He leaned to whisper into Obi-Wan's hear:

"Well... Peace is a lie."

 _There is only passion,_ he added mentally, knowing that the meaning, if not the exact words, would be transmitted via the Force.

Obi-Wan shuddered under his hands, bringing a smile of satisfaction to Anakin's lips.

"How do you manage to hide that?"

Anakin shrugged and started to apply bacta on the cuts.

"I thought I had to in order to survive."

"Did you?" Obi-Wan asked in a sharp breath as Anakin put a little too much pressure on one of the wounds. "Had to hide to survive."

"Not really. But my life would surely be easier if it had been enough to hide me."

He applied the last of the patches.

"You should catch some rest, now," he said, getting up.

Obi-Wan looked at him with half lidded eyes and nodded before lying on his side, turning his back to him.

Anakin sighed and got out of the room walking the dim hallway until he was once again facing the mess that was Padmé's living room.

So. Maybe Obi-Wan was right. Maybe making the body disappear wasn’t such a good idea. But he couldn’t just let him to rot here either. And he really didn’t want to call in anyone - be it Jedi or regular law enforcement - to invade the apartment and ask questions tonight. There was only a few hours left until morning, and he wanted to catch some sleep.

“Korlen,” he said into the com next to the door.

“Yes sir?”

“There’s a body inside. Could you come in with Krenis and Sogan and clean up?”

“Yes sir.”

“Put him where someone will find him. The death needs to be reported. Oh and, also, bring the Senator into her room.”

“Yes sir.”

He then came back to the room where Obi-Wan had fallen asleep and got out of his burned, blood soaked clothes - he would have to get rid of that too. And Obi-Wan’s keeping only his underwear. 

As he put bacta patches over his wound, he contemplated his options. He didn't have lots of them, really.

There was the honest way. But it was too soon - or too late - for that. There was the manipulative way, that he had followed since the start. Since he had been torn away from his old life, really. A way he was used to, now, but still not entirely comfortable with, even if he sometimes enjoyed it.

He really didn’t like having to mind trick Obi-Wan, though. But he doubted his friend would be as cooperative come morning.

_I guess we'll see._

He slipped into the bed, settling himself against Obi-Wan's back. Not to close - he didn't want to hurt him further - but close enough to feel his body heat.

He closed his eyes.

 

* * *

 

When he opened them back, Obi-Wan was gone.

 _Great, just great,_ he thought, going from one room to another. Their was no trace of the Jedi's presence. Even his bloodied clothes were gone.

_Well, maybe getting in bed with someone who you just manipulated into killing their Master wasn't such a good idea._

Had Obi-Wan went to the Council? If that so, would he turn himself in or incriminate Anakin?

_I have to get out of there._

But before that...

He went to Padmé and persuaded her that the last night had been just a _very_ bad dream. She'd just escaped death, after all. She had lost friends. It was normal to fear for the ones she had left.

She looked at her with a uneasy expression when she came into the freshly cleaned living room, but shrugged as she dismissed what she thought were morbid visions conjured by her overworked mind.

Anakin was impressed by his men's work. They had worked rapidly and efficiently. He would have to ask them what product they had use to clean all that blood from the carpet.

"Didn't I had a table there?" Padmé asked, looking disturbed again.

"Oh. Yeah. We broke it. Sorry. I'll buy you something more... solid. Glass is overrated anyway."

"Uh."

"Now, you should go," he said before kissing her lightly. "You've got an Act to vote for."

“I sensed a tremor in the Force last night my young Apprentice,” his Master said when he commed Anakin a few minutes later. He was settling into one of the spires closest to the one Padmé lived in. From there he could keep an eye on the apartment and would know if anyone, friend or foe, came by. He had sent his men away. Padmé's habitual security detail would have to do for today. _Until I'm sure the Jedi won't come._

“You should tread more carefully this close to the Jedi Temple. They might have felt it too.”

"Maybe," Anakin answered, shrugging. And maybe he would soon have worse things to worry about that having caused a "tremor in the Force".

But the Jedi never came.

What came was the news that the Chancellor had been given emergency powers.

 _Even better._ Anakin sighed. This was not a good day.

 

* * *

   
In the dead of the night, - of course, he was maybe able to disappear from the Force but invisibility wasn’t one of his gifts - Anakin went into the Temple, and made his way to Obi-Wan’s room. He knew its location for having escorted the Jedi back there that night after he had placed his triggers.

The apartment was empty.

Jinn’s possessions were still there.

 _Have they found his body yet?_ wondered Anakin.

Obi-Wan's bed was undisturbed and his closet was missing clothes.

So he had turned himself in.

_Or did he ran away?_

_Oh dear one, you didn't had to._

As he was living the Temple area in his speeder when a communication came in.

It was their Kaminoan liaison, an assistant to the minister.

“A Jedi has come to Kamino, my Lord.”

Anakin perked up at that.

“Did they introduced themselves?”

“He says his name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, my L…”

Anakin sighed in relief. So he was on a mission. Good.

Well, maybe not, actually. He had managed to find the Clone Army - Force knew how - ahead of schedule. It wasn't supposed to be revealed until way after the Act was voted, since building an army before it was even decided that the Republic should have an army was anti democratic.

But still better than imprisoned or on the run.

“My Lord?”

“What?”

“What should we do with him?”

“Show him around. Let him see the Grand Army of the Republic or whatever.”

 

* * *

 

"Stay put," his Master said. "Lord Tyranus will handle this."

"But..."

" _But_ what happens on Geonosis is not of your concern, Vader. You stay on Corruscant. I'll call on you soon enough."

" _Fine,"_ Anakin, replied, putting a end to the transmission.

 _I have no choice,_ he repeated himself, again and again.

His holopad exploded.

 

* * *

 

It seemed that, all of a sudden, the Force had decided Anakin wasn’t to be in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s presence anymore. 

He knew he had come out alive from the battle on Geonosis. He knew he had came back to the Temple, briefly. Just long enough to be officially made a Knight, the loss of his Master, his successful mission on Kamino and the battle that had followed apparently counting as enough of a Trial for it.

Then he had gone to war.

Anakin had tried to establish contact. He'd gone where his spies' reports pointed. Obi-Wan was already gone, or too well surrounded by his troops for Anakin to risk anything. of course, he also tried to contact him the usual, civilized way - via holo - a few day after Geonosis. And a few days after that. And once or twice after that.

Of course he hadn't got any answer.

He let it go, eventually. He could feel that it wasn't the end of it. So he let it go.

He was busy, anyway. He had still missions to go on. His Senator to use as the Order's mouthpiece. His own plans to set in motion.

He went into battle himself, eventually, donning the black mask of Vader and wielding the red saber of his Order. It was not something he did often but it was... liberating. Being far away from the overcrowded capital. Burning his way through endless rows of clones, as if they were only training dummies, endlessly produced, here for him to lash unto. From time to time, he came across a Jedi, but never the one he really wanted to cross path with. 

 

* * *

 

Obi-Wan was everywhere on the HoloNet.

The Jedi Knight was an obvious choice as poster boy for the Grand Army of the Republic. He was a gifted warrior, a charismatic leader and a brilliant negotiator

He had let his hair grow out, now that he was a Knight. Anakin decided he liked it. They looked... Swooshy. The kind of hair you could spend hours running your hand into.

"He should be fighting for us," he said to an apathetic Padmé as they were having dinner one night six months into what people were beginning to call the Clone Wars.

She was becoming more and more difficult to manipulate. She was fighting against his suggestions and being wary of him. He now had to hold her in some kind of trance when she didn't had to appear before the Senate. He regretted it, truly. But it wasn't something he had a choice about.

If he had had a choice, he would have set her free. Told her to run. To hide.

She probably wouldn't have, though. She would have fight.

Well at least he didn't had to fake anymore. It wasn't like she was paying attention.

"This war is a lost cause. He shouldn't be risking his life out there. Not for the _Republic_."

A few days after that, he caught sight of Obi-Wan in yet another transmission of some ceremony. This time the Knight was accompanied by a young Togruta, wearing a Padawan braid.

 _Is she his?_ Anakin asked himself, squinting at the HoloScreen. _Isn't he too young to have his own Padawan? He was Knighted only, what, seven months ago?_

None of the reports he had gotten had mentioned a Padawan, though it could have been a very recent development.

It was Asajj Ventress who answered his question. The assassin had met and fought the pair and, yes, the girl, named Ahsoka Tano, was indeed Obi-Wan's Padawan. She had quickly dismissed the Togruta, though, talking with grudging admiration about the the Knight's skill and concluding by saying that, to her surprise, Obi-Wan had been "really flirtatious for a stuck up space-monk".

Anakin had very nearly chopped her head off with the knife he had been using. His pear had not been so lucky, ending up in dozens of little bits that he had sent hitting the door when the Dathomirian had left the room.

 

* * *

 

His plan was in place, only missing one piece.

It was time.

 

* * *

 

It was a desolated planet, with only a few thousand of sentient beings living on it, mainly employees from the three mining companies that owned it. It had seen several important battles in the last months, though, Separatists and Loyalist trying to ascertain their hold over the resourceful, if inhospitable world. The barren wastes that made up its surface were littered with burned remains and random ship parts, separatist tanks sitting idle in the middle of nowhere, clone helmets marking the place were Republic battalions had made their last stand. One of those battles was currently taking place around a plant situated on the northern coast of the biggest of the two continents. The 212th, Obi-Wan's battalion, was among the fighters.

Anakin had chosen the carcass of a Stardestroyer to implant his distress signal. Has to who would pick it up... Well he chose to let that to the Force which, sure, hadn't really been on his side lately but one had to have some faith once in a while.

He went into the lowest part of the ship, where one of the cargo holds attached to the landing bay had still all his walls and doors intact, keeping the cold away.

He settled to wait.

Two hours later, he heard the faint sound of Jedi Strafighters.

If he could have seen himself, Anakin would probably have found his smile to be sinister. As it was, the only thing he thought was:

_I am the Chosen One and the Force is with me._

Which was kind of childish but he was cold and uncomfortable.

The sound of steps echoed in the landing bay, soon joined by the voice of a young female.

"I'm not sensing anything in there, Master!"

But she had obviously heard the constant _bip_ of the beacon because, not one minute later, a face framed by blue and white headtails was showing up at the door.

It was Obi-Wan's Padawan.

The Togruta made her way to the beacon and inspected it quizzically, not noticing Anakin who was sitting - still uncomfortably - in a dark corner.

"Ahsoka?"

Anakin's heart thundered in his chest.

"Down here, Master!"

It took him around a minute to arrive, during which Anakin had to make himself violence in order not get up and run to him. Patience had never been his strongest vertue. But he didn't particularly want to startle the Togruta. She looked like she knew how to use her saber enough to want to test it against him and he had a feeling that starting a fight with his Padawan wasn't the best way to make Obi-Wan want to listen to him.

The HoloNet really didn't make him justice.

He ignored the knot forming in his throat and slowly got up.

Ahsoka yelped and tried to disguise it as a cough, her hand going, as predicted, to her lightsaber.

Obi-Wan raised a single eyebrow and said, looking dead at him:

"Well. Nothing to see here, Ahsoka. Let's go back outside."

She looked at him like he had lost his mind but obeyed. Obi-Wan waited until she was out and turned around to follow her.

 _Oh no, you're not running away from me again!_ thought Anakin, shaking himself out of the mild shock Obi-Wan's apparition and words had put him in.

Calling the Force to him, he brought down the heavy metallic door, cutting the Jedi's retreat.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Godfuckingdammit Anakin watch your language.  
> -Lmao I had to make up so many explanations for stuff I wrote earlier without giving it much thoughts. Every two lines I was like "yeah, Anakin, tell me, why the hell did you do that???" (and he shrugged and told me "I winged it and the Force made it so I was awesome at it") Hope it was actually stuff you wanted to know about :")  
> -Also, dude sounds almost sane in there. See how he glosses over all the choking... Or maybe he just finds it kinky? Not sure about that yet :D  
> -I blame Obi-Wan swooshy hair on albaparthenicevelut and [their pirate!au](https://albaparthenicevelut.tumblr.com/post/158756403061/the-seduction-of-lord-vader-told-in-three-parts)


	7. Wreck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To n°3 if she ever reach this point of the story: Yeah sister, it's this kind of fic. I warned you.

The morning after Qui-Gon's death, he had waken up to the feeling of arms tightening around him. He would have gone back to sleep, feeling warm and safe, if it wasn't for the cold of mechanical fingers that had skimmed lightly over his naked stomach and the faint smell of bacta in the air. Because those arms where Anakin's and Anakin was with Padmé and _I shouldn't_ , he thought, proceeding to entangle himself before he realized the significance of smell, at witch point he bolted straight out of the bed, thankfully not getting much reaction from Anakin - a groan, maybe a mumble - grabbed his clothes - bloody, torn in the back - and made his way through the apartment.

In Padmé's living room, there was no trace of broken glass, or a corpse, or even a single speck of blood on the carpet.

 _What the hell kind of product can wash out blood like that?_ he had wondered, before feeling ashamed for asking himself so trivial questions when his thoughts should have been for his Master. He'd shook his head at the empty room, picked up his robe where it was hanging near the door and went to take the elevator, getting a polite nod but a curious glance from the man stationed outside the apartment. He'd tightened the robe around him, realizing that, for all the fight they got into, a bloodied Jedi was a rare sight. He'd never thought he'd ever resent the cauterizing properties of lightsabers.

_Now what?_

There was a whole mess that he needed to unravel.  _But not now_ , he'd thought. He couldn't do that now. It was too fresh, and he needed to be as little emotional as possible for it. The events themselves were muddled and he felt that he would need a great deal of meditation to see clearly. And he didn't had time for that.

He'd clutched at the saberdart he'd taken out of his pocket.

He was a Jedi before all, and his duty came first.

 

* * *

 

It had been surprisingly easy to make the Council approve the mission. They'd not even asked what was Qui-Gon was up to, visibly too distraught to remember the fact that sending a Padawan on a solo quest with more unknown parameters than there was Jedi in the Order wasn't something they usually did. He had heard them muttering about some "disturbance in the Force".

So. Either Qui-Gon's death or Anakin's... Force presence. It had been so powerful that it was a wonder the whole Oder hadn't barged him while they were sleeping.

For some reason it didn't really surprised him, that Anakin had the Force. It was like he had always knew.

And yet it didn't made what had happened the night before clearer.

 _Later_ , he'd thought, as he'd gone into Dex's dinner.

 

* * *

 

"Stabbed," had said Master Windu over the Holo. "And his lightsaber has been stolen."

Obi-Wan hadn't said a word, trusting in the shadow of his hood and the incessant kaminoan rain to cover his absence of reaction. He couldn't allow himself one, because it wouldn't have been the surprise and grief Windu would have expected. It would have been rage and betrayal and guilt, and he couldn't give into that.

Not now. Not ever.

He would not let himself fall.

 

* * *

 

Memories had started to come back. They weren't clear and he'd thought at first that they were simple dreams, moments made up by his brain to explain his own acts.

It had started with Anakin fighting and killing Darth Maul. But that wasn't possible, wasn't it? Obi-Wan had been the one who had killed the Zabrak.

Then he'd realized that the Sith had never introduced himself.

_But the name feels right._

So he had meditated. Focused on the name. And he'd heard Anakin's voice, like a whisper inside his head: "Darth Maul... That was his Sith name. I'm Darth Vader."

Obi-Wan had opened his eyes on the dim interior of a troop transport. He had been first on the ground. First to attain their objective. He was still hearing about that day months after. The men liked to talk about their general's exploits.

Later he had wondered. Had Qui-Gon discovered the truth? Probably. He could not believe that his Master would really have tried to kill someone over the _Code_.

Unless... Unless Qui-Gon had seriously thought he would fall. Like Xanatos. Like Dooku.

He'd learned about his Master going Dark Side only the morning before. Was it such a stretch to think he would have thought his lineage cursed and tried to prevent Obi-Wan to give in to such a reprehended thing as attachment?

_But I've grown attached, Master. And yet I didn't fell._

He would half persuade himself of it and then chide himself about it. He only bought into the idea that his Master had gone mad because he didn't want to believe that Anakin had betrayed him.

_But did he, though? He placed his triggers before we really became friends..._

_He is a Sith. He is evil. It doesn't matter how it played out._

And on and on he went, going over the same arguments in an infinite debate with himself.

 

* * *

 

As weeks, then months passed, Obi-Wan realized several things:

He didn't view Anakin as the enemy. Not really. At least, not in the _us_ and _them_ way that should have been evident when talking about a Jedi and a Sith. 

He had learned to know him, in those months where they would meet in Padmé's apartment on Coruscant. And, sure, maybe he had lied and hidden certain truths but Obi-Wan was sure he knew him at least _emotionally_. They had truly connected and he couldn't see any reason for Anakin to fake _that_. Obi-Wan was a Jedi among hundreds. There was no reason for a Sith to befriend him if it wasn't true, right?

It didn't felt like an act of war. It felt personal.

Then he realized that he missed his frie... _the Sith - remember, he's not your friend anymore -_  more than he missed Qui-Gon. And wasn't that thought alone terrible?

_There's something very wrong with me._

He kept thinking and thinking about how he'd taking care of him that night, his hands sure and warm against his abused back, about the torrents of dark fire that came from his mind, how it had lightened up Obi-Wan from the inside. About how he'd waken up in his arms.

He'd dream about murmured words. _"The peace is a lie. There's only passion."_ They sounded like a perverted version of the Jedi Code. Were there a part of the Sith Code? Did Sith even had a Code?   _If they have one, it has to be something like that._

There were other images. One of them was Anakin looking at him from under his lashes, sitting down or kneeling, Obi-Wan's hand in his hair. The young Knight thought it was a fantasy at first, but it came back, more precise. Anakin's face was marred by a fresh cut, and he understood it was from that day on Naboo. Obi-Wan didn't know what was worst. That he'd thought _"yep, that's nice"_ when the image had first came to him or that his opinion of it did not change after he'd realized it was a memory of a totally innocent moment.

He realized that he couldn't will those images away.

And then he realized that fighting made it better. 

That conflict was also a strange one. He could be hacking and slashing all day, because most of the time he was not feeling anything from his victims. Droids weren't technically alive. The only losses he could feel were those of his own men and if he did his job right, there was some good days were none died. So he could abandon himself to the physicality of the fight, to the fine points of battle strategy, to the best way to crush his enemies.

How ironical that the battlefield was now the only place were Obi-Wan could be at peace.

 

* * *

 

The door closed before him, the sound of metal against metal echoing grimly into the wrecked destroyer.

“Master?!”

Even if his Padawan’s voice was controlled, he was able to feel her anxiousness. She didn’t know what was happening and she clearly didn’t liked it.

“Don’t worry, Ahsoka. Everything is under control.”

As if. As soon as he had seen Anakin waiting in his corner like the damn creep he was, he had known that the situation had already slipped way out of his control.

He heard Anakin stifle a laugh behind him.

“Oh, shut it,” he hissed.

Kriff he had been in the presence of the man for less than a minute and he already felt aggravated.

Wonderful.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to call anyone? I can’t feel that guy. It’s not normal.”

And suddenly, Anakin was _there_ , wild and hot like a wildfire. Intoxicating.

“Better, now, snips?” he called through the door. He’d gone back to that mocking tone he had used the first times he and Obi-Wan had talked.

“I… I’m not sure about that.”

Her voice had gone weaker, as if she had stepped away from the door. Obi-Wan doubted it would be of any use.

“Go back to the Starfighters, Ahsoka.”

There was a moment of silence, then:

"Yes, Master."

He couldn't feel her going away - Anakin's fault, like many other things - but he trusted she would obey a direct order.

Obi-Wan finally turned around and faced Anakin.

“Hey,” the Sith said softly.

Obi-Wan stared at him incredulously. _Hey_?

Anakin’s gaze went from his own eyes to some point above and finally fell to the floor.

“I like your hair.”

Obi-Wan couldn’t help but snort at that.

“You followed me into a war zone to tell me that you _like my hair_?”

Anakin looked up with a tentative smile.

“You know me, I like some action once in a while.”

Obi-Wan own smile vanished at that. He leaned on a pile of crates bearing the symbol of the Republic -  _damn planet's even too harsh for scavengers -_  and crossed his arms, giving Anakin the most hostile look he could muster.

“No. Actually I don’t know you. All you did was serving me lies."

"Not that much!" Anakin protested. "It was mostly omissions."

"Yeah, you omitted to tell me that you had implanted triggers in _Sith language_ in my brain."

"It was a fail safe! I didn't thought I would have to use them!"

"Right," Obi-Wan scoffed. "In case of what, exactly?"

"In case you remembered..." Anakin made a face that clearly meant he had said more than he should have. It made Obi-Wan angrier and he closed his eyes, briefly, repeating part of the mantra he'd taken to recite to himself every time he'd thought about Anakin. _There is no emotion, there is peace..._ But here, it was useless. He opened his eyes and snarled:

"Oh, I _remember_."

He took a few steps toward Anakin and pointed a trembling finger at the man he had thought was his friend.

"You had _no right_! I'm not your attack dog! I'm not your _apprentice_!"

"You could be. My apprentice, I mean."

Obi-Wan laughed in his face, maybe a bit - okay, a lot - hysterically and turned his back on Anakin, shaking his head.

 _Un-fucking-believable_.

"I don't understand."

"What?" Obi-Wan snapped, pinching at the bridge of his nose. He was starting to have a hard time to _think_.

"Why aren't you attacking me? Why you don't seem to have that big of a problem with the fact that I'm a Sith. Why you're so angry. I thought Jedi didn't do angry."

"It's you," Obi-Wan replied, not really knowing what he was talking about: that he wouldn't attack him because of what he was to him, that him being a Sith wasn't as important in his eyes as the betrayal or that his Force presence was like a poison to his mind. 

_Why can't he hide himself again?_

“Stop it.”

He heard the sound of footsteps on the metallic floor and raised his head to give a warning glance at Anakin who stopped and said, his voice deceptively innocent:

"Stop what?"

"Being so kriffing loud! Are you doing it on purpose? Stop messing with my head!"

"You know you're the only Force sensitive I know who reacts to me that way?" Anakin drawled, taking a step closer.

_Oh, Force, no._

"Be it Lightsiders, Darksiders, or those poor Grey fucks that nobody wants - well, nobody _wanted_. They might get a bit, ah... Overwhelmed? But you..."

_Why me?_

Another step.

"I can tell that you _want_."

Obi-Wan swallowed hard.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Anakin raised an eyebrow, as if to say "don't bullshit a bullshiter" and went on:

"I'm not sure what it is you want, though. Is it the Dark Side? Or me...?"

He took a final step and, well. Obi-Wan had been at war for months. It was a reflex by now. His hand flew to his lightsaber.

But Anakin moved just as quickly. His artificial hand, bare of the glove he was wearing most of the time, sprung to catch his wrist.

Their eyes met for a moment and what Obi-Wan saw in Anakin would have been enough to give him shivers if he hadn't already had felt like he was walking inside a fever dream, the cold of day mixing with the heat of Anakin's Force presence.

Now what Anakin read in Obi-Wan's eyes... surely it wasn't enough to throw him down over some crates, slip between his parted legs and loom over him with the face of a man who'd saw a well after a week walking some desert, wasn't it?

And yet.

His artificial hand still clutching at Obi-Wan's wrist, Anakin brought the other to rest on his thigh.

"Do you want me?"

Obi-Wan's own gloved hand went to the back of Anakin's head, his fingers tangling with the other man's curls, but Force knew if it was to tear him away or to bring him closer.

He had found it difficult to focus before, but now it was nearly impossible.

"Anakin..."

 

Anakin smirked and ground his hips down against Obi-Wan.

His moan was caught by hot lips and from that point on, there was just Anakin, his hands, both metallic and of flesh and bones, roaming over the parts of his body that weren't covered by rigid military gear and his tongue, licking at his lips and the inside of his mouth, with only the cold and hard surface of the crates under him to counterpoint the searing presence of the man pining him down.  

A thought surfaced in the middle of all this - and it had to be the will of the Force because right now, Obi-Wan had no will. Just sensations - and he lashed into it as if he'd been drowning and this thought was a raft.

_Now or never._

He attacked both mentally and physically, sending out a jab of pure Force while gripping at Anakin's mind with all his might - a technique he had perfected by exercising on Ahsoka (The gripping part only. He wasn't about to _torture_ her). He had used as a pretext that they never knew what kind of Force user they could stumble upon, and that there were more weirdos in the galaxy that the Order could ever know about (Hell, he was currently kissing on of those weirdos!) He would have felt guilty about the lie if it hadn't actually made her stronger, her focus getting better and better each time. He could only hope Anakin didn't knew this one, for it became easy to shook off after some time - and biting his lower lip, suddenly and violently enough to draw blood.

Anakin reacted instinctively. He threw himself back - quick enough that Obi-Wan suspected he had used the Force - and snapped his barriers up.

But Obi-Wan was still inside and now he understood. It wasn't the kind of mental shield that was used to keep one's thought and feelings private, like the ones they were taught at the Temple. It was a deflector. A constant thrum of "nothing to see here, pass your way,"

"What the fuck was that?" Anakin asked, incredulously, touching his lips with his flesh and and bringing it back red. His voice was hoarse and for a moment, Obi-Wan wanted nothing else than to bring him back on top of him and lick the blood off his lips.

But he firmly put the idea aside and stood up, stepping away from the crates before finally extracting himself from Anakin's mind.

The world was suddenly clear again and Anakin had been none the wiser, either because he had been too distracted or because his shield was made specifically against exterior menaces. 

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he said, adjusting his clothes.

He grimaced. There was something else that would have needed to be adjusted.

"You could have just said it if you didn't want it. No need to _bite_ me."

Obi-Wan could have replied many things to that, "you made me kill my Master, a bleeding lip is nothing" and "did you not hear me moan?" being at the forefront of his mind. They was more immediate issues though - or rather, things he could do something about right now. Namely, Anakin's apparent problem with consent and Obi-Wan's vindication.

"One: you didn't really let me any occasion to protest. Two: I'm pretty sure you once _choked_ me because I... What? Because I was _talking_? So," he said, pointing angrily at Anakin. "You're an asshole and this was comeback."

Anakin gave him an incredulous look.

"I asked you."

"What?"

"I asked you if you wanted me. You never said no."

"I..." 

"Let's face it Obi-Wan, you want my dick too m... Humph!"

Punching Anakin felt almost as good as kissing him.

"You don't know what I want!" he shouted, not even trying to hold back his anger this time. "And whatever happens when you... Let your sick mind roam free or whatever... It's not on me!"

He turned to leave and noticed with satisfaction that Anakin's hold on the door had dissipated. He lifted it up and stormed out.

"Did you notice?" Anakin called after him, making Obi-wan's step falter. "How your light's already dimming?"

The Jedi shook his head and stumped his way out of the ship.

 

* * *

 

"Who was he?" Ahsoka asked when made it back to their Starfighters.

"A... friend."

"Do all your friends contact you via distress signal, master?"

"Just this one, Ahsoka."

"Why were you going to ignore him if he's a friend?"

"Because it would have been easier?"

He cringed at his own words. Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn't supposed to be the type of man to chose the easy way. At least that was they liked to say on the HoloNet. What he liked to think, too.

_I guess not._

Ahsoka was apparently agreeing with the HoloNet because, for the second time that day, his Padawan looked at him as if he'd gone mad.

He wasn't entirely sure he hadn't.

 

* * *

 

_You kriffing idiot._

Obi-Wan let his forehead hit the ship's console.

He had kind of knew - for months now - that their next meeting would happen that way, if it were to happen at all - which he had tried too avoid and surely he merited some credit for that - and sure enough, he hadn't be able to resist. 

Stealing Anakin's technique hadn't been anything else than a way to prove to himself that he wasn't just this man's puppet, really. Sure, it would be useful, once practiced enough, but more than anything, he'd wanted to not feel powerless.

He set the coordinates for Coruscant. They were given one of their rare reprieves from the war this week and, even though he would probably be plagued by the memories of this day for all of it - _let's be honest, I'm going to think about this until I'm burning on a pyre and it's gonna be a good day the day those memories go up into smoke_ \- he was looking forward to the comfort of his Temple apartment and to, hey, who knew, maybe get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time they do stuff with their minds I'm like "but it's not how the Force works, does it?" and then I remember that I tagged this "That's not how the Force works" so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Obi-Wan is so dramatic??? "yo burn me and all the sexy stuff i think about"
> 
> Have you seen that awesome brush??? (*whispers* [Look closer](http://calyssmarviss.tumblr.com/post/159770974454/wreck-chapter-7-of-a-race-for-the-stars-is-up) ) It looks a bit like those mad textures in the Clone Wars, no? I fucking love that Krita software.


	8. An Urgent And Delicate Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MAH GIRL AHSOKA
> 
> Obi-Wan and Ahsoka's week off gets ruined and Anakin has lots of fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you may have noticed that I keep adding chapters to the final count. That's because I put a 10chap limit in the hopes that this wouldn't become some monster fic that I would never finish. It's kinda working but I realized that there was some stuff that I wanted to tell that didn't fit in the chapters I had planned. That and also the endgame changed while I was writing.
> 
> Not entirely satisfied with this one but I'm throwing it your way cause i'm tired of it and am rather eager to work on the next one.

The Jedi Temple was half empty of its usual inhabitants but those who were present seemed to be in a constant stage of agitation. There was a lot of running involved, as they rushed from one part of the Temple to one other, either to deliver reports, checking urgently needed info in the Archives for their comrades that were on the field or get on imminently leaving ship that were leaving for missions.

In the middle of all that chaos, the Room of Thousand Fountains stayed the same heaven of serenity and chirping birds and youngling laughter. The best place in the Temple for meditation, be it the cross-legged, eye closed, slow you heartbeat 'til you nearly die of boredom kind or the more physical one, where peace was reached through perpetual movement, through exertion and single-minded quest for the perfect sequence.

Ahsoka preferred by large the second one and was practicing some moves in the middle of an open area. She was alone for now, but maybe she would seek out another Padawan later to spar with her. Or maybe her Master, if he was up to it. He had spent the previous day in the Archives and when Ahsoka had asked if he wanted some help with whatever he was researching, he had sent her to the Training Halls or "whatever you feel like doing, just don't get in trouble". She had not seen him come back to their shared quarters in the evening but she had felt his sleeping presence in his room when she had gotten up.

"Padawan!"

The call interrupted her mid-step, her cut off momentum nearly making her loose her grip on her saber.

_Wooo, glad Obi-Wan wasn't here to see that!_

She turned to find Master Windu, looking at her expectantly from where he had been meditating under a tree.

_Of all the places in that insanely large Temple..._

She mumbled a curse and made her way to him, trying to remember if she had done something wrong lately.

_Well there is this thing from two weeks ago... But Bariss swore to me that she wouldn't tell anyone!_

"I was going to call your Master but since you're here... Tell him to come to the Council Chambers in an hour. We've got a mission for you two."

"But, Master..."

They'd just came back! They weren't supposed to be sent out anywhere for five more days!

"There's no _but_ , Padawan Tano," he reprimanded her. Then he said, more softly: "I know you're on a leave. But this is an urgent and delicate matter and we believe Kenobi is the best suited for the job. Beside, it's only a matter of gathering information, and you won't leave the planet."

 

* * *

 

"Master?"

The room was so dark that she probably would have tripped over something - like those damn boots that apparently Obi-Wan hadn't had the force ( _eh_ ) to move away from where he had took them off two feet away from the door - if she hadn't be Force sensitive.

"Master?" she repeated, this time earning a groan in response.

"What?"

"You know it's the middle of the day, right?" she asked, stifling a laugh.

Light flooded the room as Obi-Wan used the Force to open the blinds.

"Not the Jedi way, sleeping in is," Ahsoka said mockingly.

"Okay, lesson time, my young Padawan," Obi-Wan said, sitting up in his bed, dislodging the datapad that had visibly spent the night in there with him and making it fall to the ground. His hair were mussed, he obviously needed to shave if the bearded wise guy style wasn't something he was interesting in developing and, _yep_ , those were definitively his clothes from the day before. 

"One: I'm a grown up. Two..." He yawned. "I'm a Knight. A Knight that hasn't got much sleep lately. So if I want to sleep in..."

"We've got a mission," Ahsoka cut in. Master Windu had said _one hour_ and Force knew this Temple was gigantic. It would take them something like twenty minute to get the top of that tower and she had to walk from the Room of the Thousand Fountains to their quarters before that, which wasn't done by snapping your fingers and praying to the Force (Which was _totally_ _unfair_. What good being a Jedi did to her if she couldn't even teleport?). 

"What? Today? But we're on leave!"

"That's what _I_ said! But Master Windy said it was important and wouldn't take long."

"Yeah, right," Obi-Wan grumbled, getting out of bed and stretching with yet another groan. "Give me five minutes." He ran a hand over his chin and jaw and grimaced. "Hum, maybe more like ten."

 

* * *

 

Walking next to Obi-Wan, she couldn't help but give him frequent glances. 

She was worried.

Her Master had been very quiet since they'd come back on Coruscant, even though she could feel him bristling with a barely contained agitation - and she would have talk his ears off about that if it hadn't been as worrying, because she damn well deserved some come back after all his "focus, Ahsoka, be one with the Force, find you inner balance, be at peace" and on and on - except for the moments his presence was inexplicably dimming, as if he'd somehow gone far away. So far away that she was on the brink of loosing him, their freshly forged training bond stretched out and as thin as spiderweb.

She could tell it had something to do with the man who had lured them with his distress beacon.

After all, Obi-Wan hadn't even want to _talk_ to him at first, not until he was trapped inside that storage room. And he'd been _angry_ when he'd come out of there, which was a pretty big deal for a Jedi. This kind of emotion was dangerous when harbored by beings as powerful as they were.

 

* * *

 

Master Windu produced a lightsaber handle that he sent, floating across the room, to Obi-Wan.

He caught it and turned it in his hands before quirking up an eyebrow and saying in a the most unimpressed tone ever:

"Well it looks like a lightsaber to me."

Master Windu looked at him with the expression Ahsoka had labeled "I'm Trying Very Hard To Be Patient But You're Challenging Me Young Man" and simply said:

"Switch it on."

The blade was red.

Obi-Wan stared at it for a long moment, the light of the saber reflecting in his clear eyes and giving them a mad look, as if there was a fire burning inside him.

_Chill out Ahsoka, it's just a reflection._

"Where does it come from?" he asked finally, powering the weapon down.

"It was taken on the body of Tesk Avani. He was one of the Jedi we sent last year to investigate the child disappearances. One of those who didn't come back."

Ahsoka had heard about Avani. His Padawan was two years older than herself and the poor girl had been crushed by the loss of her Master, which the Council had taken as a sign that she was not fit for the Order and she had been sent away to be part of the AgriCorps.

Ahsoka couldn't believe he had joined the enemy. He had destroyed his Padawan's future by abandoning her!

"We need you to find out who is producing them. They don't seem to be made by the Sith themselves."

"And how am I to find that?"

"We asked Quinlan Vos to use his gift on it." 

"Quin? Is he on planet?" her Master asked, hope discernible in his voice.

"No. He went immediately back to the Outer Rim."

"Oh."

He seemed to deflate at that, 

Ahsoka knew her Master and Vos were friends. Like, the kind of friends that liked to talk and laugh over a drink, not the kind of friends that locked each other in deserted spaceship carcasses. She was also pretty sure it had been quite some time since they had seen each other, with the war getting in their - and everyone's really - way.

"He wasn't able to see much, mainly Avani fighting clones. But he was able to recover something valuable, still. The moment Avani picked up the lightsaber for the first time. It was in some kind of workshop. He also had a few flashes of his way out of the building, which permitted us to situate it in one of the largest abandoned factories of the Works." Master Windu produced a holo of the factory in question, a hulking mass of massive pipes encasing a rough block of a building, like an over sized ship engine. "There was also the area code C5 painted on a wall. Which corresponds to this set of rooms," he added, pointing somewhere in the bowels of the factory."

"And... you want us to blow it up or something?" Ahsoka asked, talking for the first time since the meeting had started.

She had to admit that she liked to blow things up. And she didn't really had that many occasions to do it with Obi-Wan as her Master. He preferred diplomacy or ruse - at least when they were together. She'd heard that he tended to go on blind strikes every now and then, hacking and slashing his way through battalions of droids. It was a bit difficult to imagine so she usually took those tales as the boasts Clones tended to get into when comparing their general's feats - though she _also_ had to admit that the diplomatic way didn't work as often as her Master wanted to admit and they often ended up fighting their way out of a dire situation, which in turn tended to have the side effect of making things blow up.

"No. You will not blow anything up. You will not engage. This is a recon mission. If they indeed have a factory here on Coruscant, we'll send troops to take care of it."

"Very well Master Windu. Is that all?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes, you can..."

"Heard of a distress signal, we have," Master Yoda interrupted.

Ahsoka, who was about to make her way out of the Council chambers, turned back just quickly enough to witness her Master going very still at the mention of the signal. Their bond tightened even more, and the whisper she still got from Obi-Wan was .

She wondered who had relayed that information to the Council. As far as she knew it hadn't been part of their report.

_It must have been troopers,_ she thought. She was really fond of most of them but, damn, if those men didn't stop gossiping...

"That's correct, Master."

"Help you were able to provide, I trust?"

"It was a false alarm, actually," Obi-Wan replied in a perfectly neutral tone. "The beacon was inside of one of the destroyers that got shot down a few months ago. It must have been activated by some animal or a short circuit."

Ahsoka managed to not react at that only because she was used to her Master lying his way out of difficult situation, most of the time without having the occasion to concert with him beforehand. It had become a second nature by now, to go with whatever he would say to other people.

But usually it wasn't _their_ people.

 

* * *

 

"You lied to the Council."

"Get into the speeder, Ahsoka."

"I don't like it, Master."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Well guess what," he replied in a surprisingly aggressive tone. "I don't like it either. But it's also none of their business. So get in the speeder. I would like to be done with this as soon as possible."

She got into the speeder but once inside crossed her arm and sent her most suspicious glare to her Master.

"You don't want them to know about your friend. Why?"

"Because that's _none of their business_."

"Is he a Separatist?"

Her Master sent her a sideway look.

"I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

"I don't know, Ahsoka. It never came up in the conversation."

"Oh, wow, that's some friendship you guys have."

 

* * *

 

The sun was setting behind the high buildings of the capital planet, basking the Works in an orange light that made the gigantic structures of the abandoned factories look like...

_Hum? Gigantic sleeping beasts?_

_Whatever._

"So how are we getting in?"

Obi-Wan activated the holo they'd been given and the blue tinted replica of the factory deployed itself in the air between them. He pointed at one of the exterior walls of the structure.

"Ventilation shaft."

They swiftly made there way through the narrow alley were it opened, about two feet above the ground.

A bitter smile flourished on his face as he took out the screws from the panel, then used the Force to slowly and delicately lowering it to the ground.

The air inside was saturated with dust, the vents obviously not doing their job very well, probably by lack of an up to date power grid to aliment the ventilation system.

They crawled for around ten minutes, Obi-Wan frequently referring to the holo to set their course through the maze of vents that had been necessary to keep such a vast and prone to over heating place cool and aerated. They sensed a few life forms on their way to sector C, and had to slow down in order to not be heard. At one point they got a look at one of those life forms through an aeration panel: it was a Besalisk, who seemed on guard duty and not happy about it. 

"It's just after this hallway," Obi-Wan said, soon after that.

Not sensing or hearing anyone coming their way, they got out of the ventilation shaft and quickly crossed the hallway to a luckily - they could have melted it but it would have made all the previous discretion kinda useless - unlocked door, making their way onto a metallic catwalk that ran around the heights of a room that indeed looked like some sort of workshop. There was plates of durasteel and various mechanical pieces scattered over five large tables, along with the kind of contraption that wouldn't have looked out of place in a chemist's lab.

There was also a Rodian and a Human, both in lab coats, working on what looked like Kyber crystals - except they were red.

As if waiting for their arrival to make his entry, a tall man with curled hair and a scar on the right side of his face came inside the room, dark robes that looked a lot like those of a Jedi billowing around him.

She turned to Obi-Wan.

"Isn't that...?" She whispered.

Her Master's face was a curious mix of exasperation and resignation.

"You said you didn't thought he was a Separatist."

The two scientists had left their seats to greet - which apparently implied lots of bowing - the scarred man.

"I said I didn't know. And actually... This doesn't confirm anything."

"It confirm that he's probably a Sith!"

"Sith doesn't equals Separatist, Ahsoka!"

"It's not really better!"

"No, it isn't," he conceded, reporting his attention on the scene below.

While they were bickering, the man had picked a black handled saber from a box the Rodian had brought to him and was examining it. He chose this moment to switch it on and launch himself into what Ahsoka identified as a Juyo sequence.

She took a peek at her Master, gauging his reaction. He didn't look the least surprised by the sight of his so called friend showing off his lightsaber skills. Instead, he had a very intense expression, his eyes following the movements of the man as if trying to commit them all to memory.

_Seriously, what's their deal?_

The man in dark Jedi robes seemed to decide it was a good idea to finish his sequence by leaping and turning wile in mid-air, and cut the Rodian's arm off on his way down.

"That's for trying to sell what's mine to _fucking bounty hunters,_ you treacherous bastard," he snarled at the howling Rodian who had fallen at his feet. "As if they could even use lightsabers properly!"

He powered down his weapon, took a deep breath and ran a hand to his messed hair before turning his attention to the other scientist.

"Shall we continue? What about those new armors?"

The man looked down at the body and took some time - probably gathering his courage - before speaking, his voice trembling.

"Yes, Lord Vader, this way."

" _Vader_?" Ahsoka whispered to her Master as the two man were making there way to the other side of the room. "Like that guy who massacred the entire 113th two months ago? Who killed Master Kolar not three weeks ago? _That_ Vader?"

Obi-Wan didn't respond, still focused on the scene.

Did he knew about it? Surely he wouldn't have hidden his knowledge of a Sith Lord to the Order, right?

She was starting to have a really bad feeling about this whole situation.

"Does this pleases you?"

Vader was now examining plates of armor that looked like a black version of the Clone Trooper's.

_What's up with the Sith and the color black?_

"It'll do," Vader said, setting the piece back down on the table were it had been sitting on. "You can... go back home or whatever for the evening. And take that one with you."

The man picked up the still wailing Rodian from the floor and got out of the room as quickly as he could while trailing a freshly mutilated male adult.

Vader was about to follow them out of the room when he stopped without apparent reason and smiled to himself.

_Oh that can't be good._

"He can't sense our presence, can't he?"

Obi-Wan shrugged.

Did her Master had a death wish or something? She'd noticed that he had grown more and more reckless as the war went on. Did he really want to be killed at the hands of some weird, probably Separatist, probably Sith guy?

"Even if he can..." he trailed. _Which means that he definitively can._ "We're not the only life forms in this building. He won't know we're not supposed to be there."

He looked so little convinced by his own words that Ahsoka had to wondered how powerful this man was, exactly.

_Or how well does he know Obi-Wan that he can pick up his Force signature._

Vader's head shot up.

And he looked right at them.

"Missing me already?"

Obi-Wan gripped her arm with, in her opinion, far too much force and said, without looking at her:

"Run."

She bolted along the narrow pathway, her Master on her heels.

She glanced over her shoulder just before turning the corner that would led them outside of the room and saw that Vader had leaped onto the catwalk and was now following them at his own tranquil pace.

"That's good, you know," he said joyfully. "I wanted to talk to you anyway. Didn't really had the chance to, the other day."

They exited the room and took the hallway they had crossed earlier, ignoring the air vent for a more direct and rapid way out.

"So why don't you stop running so we can have a chat? Unless you'd prefer..."

They kept on running, their steps lifting clouds of rust and dust from the ground.

"...move some crates around?" Vader shouted after them. There was a laugh in his voice as it echoed in the metal covered hallways.

_What the hell?_

Did it really meant what she thought it meant? Did that Sith Lord and her Master had a _thing_ at some point?

Well that would explain _some_ things.

She heard Vader pick up his pace behind them.

"Turn left!" Obi-Wan shouted at her, somehow managing to check on their itinerary on the holo plan of the factory as he was running.

On their left was a flight of stairs. Going up. And up, and up.

They emerged on the roof. Above them, the coruscanti sky had turned black, speeders, freighters and other ships distinguishing themselves from the stars only by their mobility.

She was about to latch the door behind her with the help of the Force but Obi-Wan shook his head at her.

"Don't bother. He's a lot stronger than you are."

"So what are we going to do?"

"You go back to the Temple. He won't follow you. Don't talk to anyone about this..."

"What?!"

"I'll report to the Council myself."

"But..."

" _Go_ , Ahsoka!"

"Okay, I'm going. But you owe me some explanations!"

She started running in the direction of their hidden speeder, already regretting obeying her Master. Vader, for as little as they knew of him, was obviously a dangerous opponent. And even though Obi-Wan had came out unscathed from their last encounter, the Sith seemed _deranged_ and all too gleeful about chasing them through that rusted monster of a factory. 

She hadn't made ten step that Obi-Wan was _gone_.

Just like that, he'd disappeared from the Force.

She stopped dead and turned around just in time to see the shadow of her Master leap from the rooftop.

" _OBI-WAN!_ "

The man's voice had turned furious as if he too had lost any sense of her Master's presence.

Ahsoka smiled as she made her way down the side of the factory. It was reassuring, to know that the two men were on an even ground for this.

She got into their speeder and started it in the direction of the Temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, shit, apparently I missed the memo about what the hell is going on with natural, synthetic and bleeding crystals. It doesn't even make sense??? Like, if crystals are supposed to turn red when you go Dark Side, what's up with Anakin's? His saber should have turned red while he was, idk, killing younglings or dueling Obi-Wan on Mustafar.  
> I don't like that new canon so i decided to stick with synthetic=unstable=red and Sith are using them cause they don't have access to Ilum and also for the Aesthetic.  
> Also, Anesor, see how I seamlessly waved Quin into the plot while actually not writing him AND managing to give to Obi-Wan the false hope that he could have a nice conversation with a friend that isn't his bratty togruta padawan ? Damn I'm good :D
> 
> Next time in ARFTS: Actual racing (kind of), some light shed on people's motivations and still no beard for Obi-Wan (but it'll come!)


	9. Come At Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is it so much harder to actually write something planned that winging it? I had like half of this chapter planned from the beginning and it took me, what? ~~a week~~ fuck 2 weeks i suck. To actually write it. I guess it's because I knew what happened already so it's like reading a book for the 100th time instead of discovering it for the first time. The more mundane stuff (like fucking transitions) gets boring so you just end up with pieces of dialogues floating in the middle of wide blanks.  
>  Upside is: this chapter is the longest yet!

Obi-Wan landed gracefully in an alley much like the one where he'd found the air vent that had led him and his Padawan into the factory earlier.

 _"OBI-WAN!"_ Anakin's rage was clearly audible and it made him chuckle somberly. He'd waited a long time for this. 

He looked up to see a dark silhouette that blocked the stars from his sight. It hovered there for a moment, then started to retreat. 

Too busy hiding himself from Anakin in the Force, Obi-Wan didn't give any attention to his physical surrounding and as he moved, he collided with a metal plate that had been resting against the wall behind him.   

_Kriff._

He was pretty sure that the noise that echoed between the high walls of the alley had been audible from the other side of the Works.

He only had the time get out of the alley before he heard the sound of Anakin landing behind him.

The Force must have been with him: he found a door that was cracked open directly on his right and managed to open it all the way with next to no sound.

He slipped inside, leaving the door open enough for him to see outside but in such a way that Anakin would not be able to see past the shadows and  slowed down his breath until it barely came in and out.

Anakin stopped only a few feet away, standing directly under one of the rare lamps that subsided in the area, he industrial light giving him a ghostly appearance and allowing Obi-Wan to see for the first time the dark bruise that had flourished on his left cheekbone. His lower lip still looked raw.

He looked lost.

_Now you know how it feels like._

“I know you're not far,” Anakin said finally. "You're good but... Deflecting like that... It demands either tremendous power or perfect focus and you... Have neither."

_Good thing I don't care for compliments._

Anakin smirked, but his eyes kept on searching the shadows that drowned everything outside of the halo of the lamp as if he could pierce them by will alone.

"Oh come on! I said you were good!"

Obi-Wan closed his eyes so he could no longer see the Sith's face.

_Nothing there, there is nothing there. Go back home. I'm not here. There's nothing here._

After maybe a minute, he heard steps again and when he open his eyes again, he couldn't see Anakin anymore. He waited a few more seconds and went back out. 

Anakin was walking away, visibly done searching for him but Obi-Wan didn't let his guard down. He followed him at the same allure, keeping as much distance between them as he could while keeping him in sight or hearing range.

It became easier as they reached a more populated area, for even at this hour, Coruscant was almost overwhelmingly alive. He was able to follow a bit closer and release a bit of the hold he had on his thoughts. Anakin had been right: hiding himself demanded a kind of focus he wasn't very good at those days.  

He was starting to wondering why the hell had the Sith parked so far away from the factory when he stopped at a hovertrain station.

Obi-Wan looked looked at the oncoming transport for a few seconds, feeling kind of cheated. He was expecting something more exiting, if he was to be honest. Some chase across Coruscant, akin to the one they'd taken part in that night everything good in his life had been blown away.

He knew Anakin liked flashy, noisy and ridiculously fast speeders. Not those grey boxes full of people that moved sluggishly through the city as if they had all the time in the world. He had once told him that just seeing those trains from afar was like an insult to him and every single ship he had ever drove.

The only reason a pilot such as Anakin would willingly take public transport was anonymity. 

Which could have been difficult to accomplish, given what he was wearing, but Coruscant was the capital planet, the place were every sentient species of the Galaxy came to mingle together in a kaleidoscopic mass. One could easily find any skin color or clothing style on this planet and though black robes might seem ominous for a Jedi, on some planet it was the color of highborn or the garb of a bride.

He got into the hovertrain just before it started again and made to a window from he would have a good view on anyone leaving the car Anakin had gotten into.

It took them half an hour to get wherever Anakin had in mind. Obi-Wan wasn't familiar with the area... Well, it looked like a most of Coruscant, but there wasn't any distinct landmark for him to recognize.

But he surely would have no problem finding it again, for Anakin was going in the direction of a pretty distinctive building, shaped in the form that was similar to the Senate Office Building's - only a few sizes smaller - like an overgrown mushroom head, sitting in the shadow of the taller spires that surrounded it.

Anakin went to the main entrance, where a pair of guards saluted him and he walked in like he owned the place - which could be the case or not at all, Anakin having the tendency to walk everywhere as if the whole Galaxy was his. 

Obi-Wan found a place where he wouldn't look too suspect - a quiet corner of a suspended square - and from where he had a good view of the building, and settled to wait.

He waited and waited but no one came out of the building. Not on this side of it at least. He didn't saw any aircraft leave it either.

Whatever was this place, it merited a visit if Anakin spent as much time in it. Obi-Wan stifled an yawn as he started toward the hovertrain station. He had things to do at the Temple, like eat and sleep and report to the Council, even though he wasn't certain of how that particular one was going to go down.

 

* * *

 

It was nearly sunrise when he came back to the Temple.

Ahsoka was sleeping in her room, as the peacefulness of her Force signature told him. He wondered if she had waited on him that night.

Probably. She had some difficulties with the "not getting attached" part of the Code. She would have been worried.

An also pissed off, probably. Which he certainly deserved.

For just a moment he wished he could manipulate her memories like Anakin did to him. Then he felt extremely guilty about that thought. No, he would explain all of this to Ahsoka, once he would have figured it all out.

 _Well, maybe not_ all _of it._

He went into his own room, rubbing at his tired eyes and stripped to his underwear before crashing onto his still unmade bed.

_What should I say to the Council?_

He should tell them about Anakin. He just had the confirmation that he was working against them, after all.

 _No, that's not true_. He'd know since the Order had first heard about the deeds of Darth Vader, the Sith that marched into battle wearing a mask.

Why that mask?

It seemed so at odd with his character.

_Actually..._

For all that Anakin's attitude screamed _"look at me!"_ every time he'd saw him, he still hid himself. In the Force, from the authorities - as his absence from official records led him to think -

He rolled on his bed and picked up the datapad that had fell on the floor when Ahsoka had came to wake him the day before.

He had, without consciously deciding it, it seemed, avoided to linger on this reports or on the rumors. It had been bad enough to know that it had been Anakin - the man he'd watched tinker whole evenings, the man whose eyes and mouth and hands - yes, even the artificial one - he'd daydreamed about for months and months, who had listened to his worries and his complaints and offered understanding and reassurances in return - was the one behind that mask, he wasn't about to look into it further when he wasn't the one tasked with apprehending him.

It had been cowardice. Fear to own into his decision to not call in the Council on Anakin after Qui-Gon's death. To not give himself to its justice.

He had to at least acknowledge the consequences, now.

He entered his access code and typed in the command that would bring up the report on Darth Vader. 

There wasn't a lot to go through but what Obi-Wan found was daunting enough. 

 _"... overwhelming wave of power,"_ had reported Luminara Unduli, the only Jedi to have come near Vader and come back to tell the tale. She hadn't engaged him, though. Not that she hadn't wanted. Vader had retreated before she could, apparently done with whatever he'd come there to do.

 _"... brutal and merciless,"_ had commented a the captain of the Torrent Company, a clone matriculatedCT-7567 that Obi-Wan was pretty was nicknamed Rex. Apparently he had only survived the encounter because he had been hurt and incapable of firing his blaster. Vader had came to him and told him to _"tell the tale."_

And yes, there was the 113th massacre:

_"... limbs severed in an unnecessarily cruel fashion..."_

Chills ran through Obi-Wan at his mind eye recomposed the scene, taking from Anakin's half remembered combat with Darth Maul, and from what he'd seen of his style the previous night.

 _"... some were apparently choked to death..."_ said the medics rapport. _"No mark left on the skin... conclusion is that the Force was used..."_

Obi-Wan's hand flew to his own throat. It had been nearly a year and he had forgotten for half of it but when it came back, the memory of the Force hold on his neck had been vivid when it had came back. And Anakin had only done it to silence him. He couldn't even imagine how atrocious a death it must have been for those troopers.

The rapports finished on a note musing about Vader's origins and hideout, theorizing that such a powerful Force user must have been hiding in the far Outer Rim on some secluded word for not having been discovered by the Jedi Order.

Obi-Wan chuckled bitterly at that. If only they'd knew how close Anakin was really hiding.

_You could tell them._

He ignored this thought in favor of powering down the datapad and sinking under his covers.

It had been a long night.

 

* * *

 

Jedi often had peculiar dreams. Most of the time they were visions, send by the Force to lead them - even if some times they ended up being more confusing than everything, but that was on the receiver.

This one could have been a normal dream. It was made of Obi-Wan's memories and wasn't it how dreams were supposed to be? Bits and pieces of things seen in the day, or sometimes in a more distant past, mixed and matched as the brain recalibrated itself.

But it wasn't. It was too clear, too linear for that, even though some things were amiss. 

This was a month before the assassination attempt on Padmé. 

It was a rare thing for them to do to go out. Obi-Wan and Padmé didn't had that much time free from their obligations so they usually didn't waste that time going anywhere. But that day he hadn't had anything to do at all, Padmé wasn't there and so Anakin had dragged him to see some - surprisingly legal - race.

It had been a hot day, with the sun shining so bright that Obi-Wan had often had trouble seeing the landspeeders when they were on the far side of the arena. It didn't matter that much, anyway. He wasn't really here for the race and he was pretty sure nothing could compare to the one he had witnessed on Tatooine.

So he had passed most of that afternoon looking at Anakin.

He knew he should have distanced himself - or even better: not gotten close to begin with - but he was pulled toward the other man like a moth to a flame.

And he didn't thought it was just his looks, even if their were definitively a good part of the equation.

There was just something...

The shouts and cheers coming from the crowd around them are only a distant echo to his ears but his friend's voice is clear, as if they were the only two person in the world.

“It’s weird watching from afar.”

“Why aren’t you competing?”

"I wanted to spend the day with you. Can’t do that if I’m racing.”

They smiled at each other and Obi-Wan thought:  _this is ridiculous._   _I am ridiculous._

He felt like a crushing teenager again, except that the person in front of him wasn't a young girl who'd devoted her life to the same goal as him but a man who's free spirit and powerful body and mysterious past were dragging him a bit more down under every day that passed.

If Siri had been a firebug, fleeting and vivacious, and Satine a beacon in the darkness, Anakin was a whole fucking sun and he had trapped Obi-Wan in his orbit.

_It shouldn't be that way._

As he was dreaming of the past that thought was at the same time confusing and making perfect sense. Some part of him felt as if everything was at its righteous place while the other thought Anakin should have appeared in his dreams as some kind of monster, a looming figure cloaked in darkness and with the mask of a murderer.

But all he saw was burning light.

"Look at that moron!" Anakin exclaimed with a laugh. He then looked at Obi-Wan to check if he had seen it - whatever _it_ was - and pouted when he saw his friend wasn't sharing his hilarity.

"Mhm, what?" Obi-Wan asked absently. He glanced back at the arena to see a blue-grey landspeeder embedded in one of the advert panels that bordered the tracks - this one for power converters. The pilot had stepped out of his vehicle, unarmed but seriously pissed off if his frenetic movements were of any indication.

When he turned back to Anakin there weren't in the tribunes anymore but in a bright yellow speeder, racing through Coruscant's traffic after a changeling assassin.

*What took you so long?* Obi-Wan asked jokingly. He'd actually been quite impressed by this rescue, and surprised that Anakin had chosen to follow him rather than stay at Padmé's side, given how angry he'd been earlier in the day that someone had dared attack her.

*Oh, you know. I couldn’t find a speeder that I really liked.*

He knew that in reality, he had pointed at the assassin's speeder, telling Anakin to follow her. But in the dream he could just look at him laugh at they suddenly dived straight down.

*Pull up Anakin. Pull up!*

He pulled up only when they almost collided with a passing ship, an enormous cruiser that would have most definitely won this round against their small speeder.

*You know I don’t like it when you do that!*

*Sorry. I forgot you don’t like flying.*

Actually he kind of liked it. Maybe a bit to much. The thrill he felt on the rare occurrences he let Anakin drive them anywhere was quite similar to the one he'd felt at time when he'd won a duel in extremis or escaped from an impossible situation with only a few scraps.

He shouldn't like that. He should have relished in peace, not in the feeling of elation adrenaline procured.

So he forced himself to look as stern as possible, when he was in fact battling against a smile. And never mind that Anakin wouldn't have cared - he would actually have been happy about it - what mattered was that he didn't stray.

*I don’t mind flying, but what you’re doing is suicide!*

They soon reached an industrial area, at which moment the assassin started shooting stuff that should definitively have been left alone, like cranking _power couplings_.

Purple lightning struck at them but the pain was only a vague echo of what it had really been, more like pinprick than full shock electrocution.

*Where are you going? He went that way!* Obi-Wan had exclaimed as Anakin ignored the tunnel in which the assassin had went in.

*If we keep this chase going any longer, that creep is gonna end up deep fried and personally, I'd very much like to find out who he is and who he's working for," Anakin had said grimly, as if he was already planning the horrible things he would do to that person. _Which he was probably_ , the part of Obi-Wan that knew it was a dream thought. *This is a shortcut. I think.*

They'd arrived at one of the tunnel's entry indeed, but there was no trace of the assassin's speeder. 

*That was some shortcut, Anakin. He went completely the other way.*

*If you’ll excuse me…*

This time he was looking directly at Anakin when he leaped from the speeder. He lunged to grab at him, catch him before he could fall to a certain death. But gravity won and they both fell out.

He shouldn't have been able to hear him with the wind and aircrafts rushing around them but just as it had been earlier, Anakin's words were clear:

"See?" He laughed as they plummeted down. "I made you fall."

 

* * *

 

"So how did it go?"

Obi-Wan took the cup of tea Ahsoka was handing him and sipped at it.

_Not enough sugar._

"Did you got him or...?"

He could read on her face and through their Force bond that she doubted that his goal had been to "got him", whatever it meant, capture or death. 

"No," he replied before going to get some sugar. Ahsoka liked it bitter and rarely thought about adding some for him. "But I'll find him again."

"And what do you intend to do once you find him?"

"That's... For the Council to decide."

"So you're going to tell them this time?"

That he'd encountered Darth Vader? Yes. That he knew knew him personally?

Probably not.

He knew he should tell them. Everything. But even though he intellectually knew it was the right thing to do, he couldn't muster the will to come clean to the Masters. He'd waited for too long, was too much implicated.

Over the last months, when his faith in Qui-Gon occasionally won over his feelings for Anakin, he'd repeated to himself that once he would have went to the bottom of this, he would present his results to the Council. A victory for the Order. A way to make up for his crime.

The rest of the time, if he were to be honest with himself, he doubted very much that he would.

"Yes, of course."

She considered him a moment then flopped on the sofa that was in the living room part of their shared quarters.

"So, how comes you're pal with Darth Vader, exactly?"

"Not, Darth Vader," he corrected, sitting next to her. "You've got to understand that, Ahsoka. I didn't know about any of this when I met him."

"Alright... So who is he, for you? What's is real name? That's his Sith name, right? Darth Vader?"

"Yes. His name is Anakin. I met him nearly two years ago during a mission. He helped us."

"And that's it?" Ahsoka asked, looking dubious. "You never noticed that he was a Force user?"

"He's good at hiding." He finished his cup and turned to Ahsoka. "I didn't talked to the Council earlier because he had tricked me. Because my pride was hurt. And that's a lesson for you, my Padawan," he added with a halfhearted laugh. "Ignore your pride and don't lie to the Masters." He got up. "Now I'll go make my report."

 

* * *

 

Only Yoda was present in the Council Chambers. He was hovering before one of the large windows that were the only source of light in the room, looking pensively in the distance. Obi-Wan came to stand next to him. 

"It was the right place."

"So troops we will send," Yoda replied without averting his gaze from the view.

"And it was Darth Vader."

Yoda perked up at that, looking more curious than worried and turned to him.

"His face, did you see?"

"No. He was wearing is mask."

"Just under our noses, the Sith are moving now," Yoda said. "Your clairvoyance we've lost." 

"They're producing sabers in great numbers... Isn't it strange, Master? I thought they were doing it the same way as us. Creating their own sabers. That's what is said in the Archives."

"Unstable artificial crystals are. Inexperimented, their recruits may be. Quickly arm them though, they need. "

"Why? I thought they followed that rule...?"

"The Rule of Two, cast aside they have. An Order, they're building back. That would rival our."

"It surely ties into the disappearances from last year."

He thought again about what Anakin had say to him a few days before.

_"You can be. My apprentice, I mean."_

Did it meant that Anakin's own Master was still alive? Or did he had killed him before abandoning the rule? 

"Troubled, I sense you."

He looked down at Yoda with a guarded expression.

"It's been... a rough year, Master Yoda. With Qui-Gon's death and the war and now having a Padawan on my own... I have a lot on my mind." 

"Wary of your emotions, you need to be," Yoda said as if he was a youngling who knew nothing of the Code.

And it wasn't like being reminded of it would do anything to help. He'd been struggling for months now.

"Meditate you should."

Obi-Wan almost laughed in the Grand Master face.

"Meditation doesn't help, Master," he said instead. "Only the focus of combat permits me to clear my mind nowadays."

"Not good, this is," Yoda said, pointing a claw like finger at him patronizingly. "The way of the Jedi, peace is. Not war."

"I know it, Master. But..." He sighed before bowing his head in contrition. "I'll try, Master."

"Do, or don't, there is no try."

_Wow, thanks for that super useful advice._

For a brief moment, Obi-Wan wondered how Dooku had took so long to turn to the Dark Side. Having Yoda as a Master surely must had been frustrating enough to tempt him at least once or twice during his Padawan years.

Then he berated himself for thinking of the man's fall as a joke, even in the privacy of his thoughts. It was not a funny. Not at all. Dooku was responsible for thousands of death across the Galaxy.

_And besides, you might be the next._

"I'll do it, Master." He stood up. "Thank you for your _advice_."

 

* * *

 

Just like the night before, a guard was standing at the main entrance, looking bored out of his mind.

Obi-Wan approached him nonchalantly, a smile plastered on his face.

The man glared suspiciously at him, obviously not a fan of his Jedi apparel.

 _Apparently they're selling them black and leathery too if you'd prefer_ , Obi-Wan thought but didn't say.

"What's your business here?" the man asked.

"You will let me in," Obi-Wan said to the guard, waving his hand between them.

"I will let you in."

"And you will not inform anyone of my presence."

"And I will not inform anyone of your presence."

 

* * *

 

The residence was vast and cold, so far away from what Anakin was in Obi-Wan’s mind that he thought for a moment that he had make a mistake. Those black and white marble floors and walls and faceless statues were making Obi-Wan feel like he was walking into a mausoleum, a place not made for the livings.

But soon enough he was hiding behind a pillar bordering a dining room occupied by a young Sith, an older woman and a handful of serving droids.

The two humans were sitting opposing each other at each extremity of a long marble table, focused in their food, avoiding each other’s gaze.

The woman was dressed sumptuously, her lavender dress made of silk and her jewelry of gold. She looked forty or fifty but was still beautiful. Obi-Wan didn’t sense anything particular coming from her but didn’t eliminate the possibility that she was Force sensitive. She could be cloaking herself. Like Anakin.

Like himself right now.

Well, not _exactly_ like them. He could sense her presence. But who knew what other tricks the Sith had in their bag.

He reported his attention on the Sith.

Anakin was toying with his food, looking supremely bored, his tall frame reclined in his chair like the laziest king in the galaxy. He was still wearing the same dark robes than earlier and didn't look like he had slept.

He lifted his flesh hand and ran a finger over his scarred lip, smiling in a way that sent chills running through Obi-Wan.

“You could have taken care of that,” the woman said as she finally looked up from her meal. She didn't look particularly enthusiast about it, anyway.

“Mmh? Oh, no, it’s alright. I deserved it anyway.”

“Ani…” she sighed and put down her fork and knife.

“What?”

“We’ve talked about this. You do what you’ve got to do. But don’t ever think you _deserve_ it.”

He looked at her with a lost expression, then seemed to get what she was talking about and laughed.

“Oh, no. It wasn’t _him_.”

“Then who was it?”

“Someone who doesn’t seem to like the way I kiss,” he replied on a joking tone.

She seemed at loss for words for a moment then said, shaking her head:

“Now I’m sure I don’t want to know.”

“No, you don’t, mother.”

Obi-Wan did a double take at that. That woman was Anakin’s mother?

“Although I’m sure you’d like to meet him.”

“Him? What about that Senator you were seeing?”

 _Yeah I’d like to know that too_ , thought Obi-Wan.

To be honest, he hadn’t give much of a thought about Padmé lately, too busy with freaking out and play that kiss on a loop in his head and practicing and researching and freaking out some more.

“You know she was an assignment.”

“So you played her.”

“For you.”

She looked sadly at her plate.

“You know you don’t have to, Ani. My life doesn’t…”

“You life is worth all the lies and deceptions, mother," Anakin cut her gently. 

She was about to retort something but the words seemed to get stuck in her throat and she shook her head again. It was obvious that they had had this conversation a several times already.

“So," she said finally, picking up her cutlery again. "Tell me about him.”

"Well for one," Anakin started enthusiastically. "He's really clever. He managed to trick me, last night. Beat me at my own game, actual..."

He was interrupted by a beeping droid that had just came in from a door opposing Obi-Wan's hiding place. He said something to Anakin in binary.

He'd kept on repeating to Obi-Wan that he should learn it and now the Jedi was beginning to think that he should have listen to him, for Anakin only nodded at the droid before getting up and leaving the dining room without a word, leaving his Obi-Wan and Anakin's mother to stare after him.

 

* * *

 

For someone whose main job should have been maintaining the peace in the galaxy via diplomacy, he sure spent a lot of time spying on people from some hidden and high placed location.

He had to take an other road than Anakin - he couldn't just cross the dining room under his mother's nose, now could he? - but he found him again.

At least he didn't have to crawl through any air vent to reach his vantage point this time. He'd sensed a human presence and went in its direction until he was hearing two voice, one he recognized as Anakin's - Anakin in a bad mood, actually - and ended up in a gallery that looked onto what looked _a lot_ like a throne room.

Anakin was kneeling before a the man that was sitting on an imposing black chair.

"Our engineers are making progress, _Master_ ," he said as if the word was burning his tongue.

"Progress is not enough. We need more stable crystals. And we need them soon! Our Order needs weapons worthy of its glory. And since Kyber won't work..." 

The man was wearing a dark robe and a hood that fell low before his eyes.

But his voice was familiar.

Was that... _The Chancellor?!_

_No._

This was so much worst than what he had thought.

He tried to net let this revelation overwhelm him. _Later, later, don't think of the implications now. Now focus on your shield and_ listen _._

"It's going as fast as possible when one only got two engineer at their disposition, my Master," Anakin replied in the smooth voice that in Obi-Wan's ears translated by "yeah I'm not giving it much effort but what you're gonna do about it?". It usually made him laugh, because it was in the context of them hanging out at Padmé and being young and irresponsible while they could but this... He really didn't like this.

Palpatine seemed to catch on it to and asked:

"You're not volontarilly slowing the process, are you? Because I've heard some other... Troubling report from some of the operations you were in charge of. Like the lovely Senator's political stance, for example. It seems that she's taken some decisions that were... Not entirely going in our way."

"She's known for her idealistic view, Master. I can't very well make her take decisions that totally contradict that." 

"Be careful, my young apprentice. A more distrustful man could think that you're conspiring against him."

"Oh, if only I dared," Anakin said mockingly.

Palpatine's mouth contorted into a disdainful grimace.

"You'd be wise to not forget your place."

Anakin spread his arms to empathize his kneeling position and said: "I don't really see how I could forget it, _Master_." He then held up his chin arrogantly and added: "But I won't always be in your shadow, old man. I am the future of the Sith. And I will survive you."

“Don’t you dare defy me, _boy_ ," spat the Chancellor, rising from his chair and walking toward Anakin. "You don’t want anything to happen to your mother, don’t you?”

“You wouldn’t hurt her!”

“My affection for her may be great but don't think one second that I would hesitate pressing that button." 

On those words Palpatine left the room, leaving Anakin to fume alone. He started pacing and muttering to himself, at which point Obi-Wan began to think that it maybe was a good time to leave.

But he didn't move.

He could not leave without talking to him.

"Who are you?"

Obi-Wan startled and turned around, cursing himself for not having sensed the woman come. He'd been so focused on the conversation and on maintaining his shield that he hadn't cared about anything else and let Anakin's mother sneek on him.

"You're a Jedi!"

He should maybe look into acquiring different clothes if he had to keep on going into places owned by Sith Lords.

"Hum, yes. Hello."

He looked anxiously at the room below, wondering if Anakin heard them talk and what would his reaction to his presence be. 

It was empty. 

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to... See Anakin."

Well, it was true... From a certain point of view. He just didn't expect Anakin to see _him_ when he had came in. 

"Oh." She considered him a moment. "Are you..."

"Is there something wrong, mother? I felt... Oh."

Anakin stopped under the arch that led to the gallery.

"I felt your surprise. Hum. Could have been worse, I guess. Good evening, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan's only answer was to glare at him.

"Is this the young man you were talking me about earlier?"

"Yes he is."

Obi-Wan tried to keep his face neutral but he couldn't help but remember what they had actually talked about earlier. Like the fact that they had kissed.

"In that case, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Shmi Skywalker."

Before Obi-Wan could respond, Anakin stepped between them and said:

"Mother, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight and General in the Grand Army of the Republic."

"Oh, I think I've heard about you. They're calling you the Negotiator, aren't they?"

"They do. Although I can't really see why. Most of those negotiations end up in fights anyway," he responded pleasantly.

"That's not true," Anakin said brusquely, as if offended by his declaration. "You settled more conflicts peacefully those last seven months than the Senate's emissaries in the past two years!"

Obi-Wan stared blankly at him. Had Anakin been counting his wins?

The Sith looked back at him like he was defying him to try and talk himself down again, until Shmi coughed awkwardly and said:

"Well, I let you two to..." She trailed, making a vague gesture that made Obi-Wan more embarrassed than if she actually said anything.

He waited until he couldn't hear her steps to turn back to Anakin and say: 

"We need to talk."

"I thought you didn't want to," he replied, frowning.

"I heard you talk to your... Master."

Anakin looked even more confused, clearly having a hard time understanding why it was a good thing.

"Alright. Come with me," Anakin finally said, grabbing his wrist and "Keep deflecting."

He dragged him through hallways and empty rooms, the residence unfolding before Obi-Wan's eyes, maze-like and and ostentatious.  

Even for someone used to the gigantism of the Jedi Temple, this place seemed so unnecessarily vast, it was ridiculous.

What use did Palpatine made of this place? Was he sheltering some army between this walls?

 _Maybe he actually does. A Sith army._  

Anakin made him stop and dragged him into an alcove, the kind that was framed by heavy draperies and where meandering guests could hide into during parties.

"What..."

"Quiet."

Like Anakin, he felt coming them before he heard their steps and obeyed.

Palpatine passed them, surrounded by a flock of people, some taking notes as he spoke, some with the distinctive look of bodyguards.

Obi-Wan's free hand went to his lightsaber but Anakin took this one into his own too, stepping right into his personal space and blocking the hallway from his view.

"Not now," he said into his ear.

Oh, how he wanted to kill that man! The aimless anger - aimless because, sure, he had enemies, but none of them, bare for maybe Dooku and Grievous, had felt truly responsible for all this for Obi-Wan and that feeling seemed to have been on spot. They were all pawns in a bigger game - he'd felt bubbling in him as the war burned across the galaxy had finally found a focus and now it was even more exacerbated by knowing that that man had Anakin on some kind of a leash.

"You thoughts are showing," Anakin whispered. "I can almost taste your anger," he added, the fingers of his flesh hand caressing Oi-Wan's wrist. "Focus."

The Jedi took a deep breath and yanked his arm free.

"This is really not the best way to make me focus."

He leaned past Anakin. Palpatine and his assistants were out of sight.

He went out of the alcove and and asked:

"So? Where to?"

"That way."

"Are you the two only people living here?" Obi-Wan asked as they went up a large flight of stairs. "I know where Palpatine lives and it's not..."

"No, sometimes there are others," Anakin cut in, confirming what Obi-Wan had guessed earlier:

_Other Sith._

He definitively no tried to imagine Ventress having diner with the Skywalkers. But if he had, he would have had to admit to be willing to pay a good price to see it, and hell if that price went to the Separatist cause.

They finally reached their destination an, as soon as the door was closed behind them, Obi-Wan spun around to confront Anakin, on what first, he wasn't even sure but he was before he could even pick something, he was interrupted by a held up hand. 

"Wait."

Anakin made a face, like he was listening for something and Obi-Wan profited of this moment to look curiously at his surroundings.

They were in the higher floors of the building and the large, probably tinted from the outside window were curbing over their head, allowing the them to see clearly even in the early evening light. And there was definitively a lot to see. That room had obviously been as sumptuous as the rest of the residence once but now it was just the most complete mess Obi-Wan had ever saw - and he'd been on numerous battlefield in the last year. There was ships and droid parts everywhere and even what looked like half of a hoverbike - even though he couldn't be sure, because some kind of dark cloak had been thrown on it. A holodrama was playing on mute in a corner, the kind of things Ahsoka like to put on only to mock every single thing happening in them. There was also clothes that seemed to have been tossed randomly across the space and Obi-Wan wondered anyone ever came in here except Anakin. Surely with his love of robots he could have programmed one to clean up after him? The only part of the room that was clear of clutter was a slightly raised surface occupied by a large, unmade bed.

The place really looked more like a workshop than a bedroom.

"He's gone, you can relax now."

 _Kriff, I was beginning to develop some serious headache here._ He was maybe trained to use his mind in some ways that were not usual for the common folk but this trick was a particularly complex one, especially when he had had so many other things cluttering his mind.

"I don't know what's more messed up," Obi-Wan said. "The situation or this room."

"I don't spend much time here those days." 

They both looked at the room a few instants, as if the chaos demanded to be admired before anything else could happen, then turned back to each other.

Obi-Wan was about to talk but Anakin was faster and, with the kind of sullen look that made Obi-Wan want to laugh at the idea that he could ever be something dangerous - _damn his stupid face... it's actually probably his best weapon_ \- he asked:

"Why did you run away? In the Works."

"Why did you chase after us like a kriffing lunatic?"

"You ran away first!"

 _Okay, fair point_. Not that he was about to tell him.

"You had just cut off some guy's arm!"

"Uh, hello? Who did the same thing _in the middle of a bar_ some time ago?"

"It was to protect _you_!"

"Yes, it was," Anakin said, looking immensely satisfied by that fact.

"So don't compare the two."

Anakin rolled his eyes.

"He stole from me. He was going to arm incompetent and uncontrollable individuals. He deserved it. But I wasn't going to hurt you. Or your Padawan."

He moved to place himself in front of Obi-Wan.

"You _know_ that, right?"

He would have liked to say that he did. It would have been easy, in this room, in this light. Anakin looked so different than the previous night. Like a young man afraid that he would have scared a friend away instead of a Sith Lord that cut his subordinates arms off and laughed when chasing people. But then he had spent months pretending to be harmless only to end up being instrumental in the death of the man who was like a father to Obi-Wan.

"And how would I?"

Anakin seemed at a loss for words after that.

Obi-Wan sighed.

"Honestly?" he said, looking away and rubbing at his neck. There was no reason to be embarrassed by his ruse. It was something he did often, after all, tricking people. And Anakin would care if he had done it to his Padawan. But still, he didn't felt good about it. The girl trusted him - well, maybe she wouldn't trust him that much after the less than satisfying answers he'd given her when she'd asked about his relationship with a _Sith Lord_  - and he hated to break that trust. "I just wanted to get Ahsoka away from there. I knew I would be able to tail you, but only if she wasn't with me."

Anakin grinned.

"I knew it. I knew you would not run. You would have fought if you hadn't some plan in mind. Or just stomped your way out with your middle finger raised or something."

He walked to Obi-Wan, close enough that it would have been considered impolite among most of the species inhabiting the galaxy, but still far enough that Obi-Wan didn't felt like he had to hit him on principle.

"You're not afraid of me."

"I think I'm too familiar with you for that."

"Uh, that's a weird one."

"Why?"

"Some people can stay frightening for a long time, even if you face them everyday."

Well, that one was a surprising confession. Anakin Skywalker, afraid of someone? That man laughed at the idea of dying in a pod crash.

So whoever that was... 

"Are you... talking about Palpatine?"

This time it was Anakin who turned his back to him. His shoulders were tense and his head hanging low.

"He's not my Master only in the teaching sense. He also owns me."

"What?"

"He bought me - and my mother - from Watto when I was ten." 

“You said you were free!”

Yet another lie.

“The Force set me free.” At that his head snapped up and his body relaxed. He turned halfway toward Obi-Wan, offering him his profile, the one that still bear the bruise from his fist.

It sounded like a rehashed sentence, like something he would have repeated to himself over the years, like...

"Is there a Sith Code?"

Anakin looked at him with an incredulous face. Then he laughed.

"There is."

"What is it?"

"You haven't earned it yet," he responded mischievously.

He didn't know what angered him more: that Anakin would deny him this piece of information, that confident "yet" or just the fact that he was able to provoke such an emotion in him with just a few words.

He huffed and walked - having to step over stuff he wasn't even certain of the nature - to one of the most crowded corners of the room - near the bed's platform - to drop into an armchair and closed his eyes a moment, trying to find balance in the Force. He would not lose his calm over something so trivial. 

"You're making this very hard for me, you know?" he said finally, looking back at Anakin.

He was staring at him with a calculating expression that did not reassure Obi-Wan one bit but it instantly dissolved into a shrug and he looked away, fidgeting with some piece of machinery that was resting on the desk next to him.  

"I can imagine. I'm sorry about that."

"Really?"

Anakin shrugged again.

"I wish it had went an easier way but I guess the Force weaves as the Force wills and really, what would be the fun in a straightforward path?" 

"The fun? This is a war. You made yourself my enemy Anakin. And I could... I should have called the Council on you, today."

Even he didn't find his own tone convincing.

"But you didn't. Why?"

"I wanted to understand. I still want to. What's up with Palpatine? He's literally attacking himself!"

Anakin looked at him pensively then shrugged and said, to Obi-Wan's surprise:

"This war... It's part of his plans. He's pitting the two sides against each other so the Republic is weakened and he can waltz in like the providential savior. He's also weakening the Order, trying to make the people doubt of its capacities."

"I know I just asked but... why are you telling me this? You don't think I'm going to try and stop it? Or do you plan to weep out my memories again?"

"No, I want you to know about it. Because I have a better plan. And I want you to be part of it."

"So it is true? You are conspiring against him?"

"It's true. That's what I wanted to talk to you about the other day, actually. I just got... sidetracked."

"Sidetracked?"

"You're distracting."

Obi-Wan choose to ignore that and asked:

"And what's that plan?"

"Wait until _his_ plan is near its completion. Kill him. Take his place and..."

"Take his place?" Obi-Wan scoffed. "As what? Chancellor? You need to be elected for that. And I doubt even you could mind trick the whole Senate."

"No. Not as Chancellor. As Emperor."

Obi-Wan started laughing but stopped as Anakin stayed dead serious.

"You're not joking." 

"Do I look like I am?"

"So you're just proposing me a tyrant over another? I serve the Republic, Anakin. What makes you think I would give it up for you?"

"It's not much of a Republic anymore. All those politicians... They're corrupt. All of them. If you had seen what I saw during all those years I had to follow Sidious - Palpatine around... Nothing is getting done because it takes eons for the Senate to agree on anything. They're all in it for themselves. We need a firm hand. Someone who won't discriminate in favor of their home planet or his commercial allies..."

"And working toward what? Peace? I have some trouble believing that given that you're a _Sith_." 

"It's true I don't believe in peace. It's not the way of life. Life is a mess. It's chaos."

"You're really bad at defending your case, you know."

"I'm a warrior. I need something to fight for, even if it's not something I believe in. And it sure is an endless fight."

"And what makes your plan _better_ , exactly?"

"Sidious plans to annihilate the Jedi Order. Not me. I want to reunite it with the Sith. We were one once. We can be one again. And you can help me do that." 

Oh so there was a reason behind Anakin befriending him, in the end. He should have seen it coming. Sith weren't exactly renowned for being gratuitously sympathetic...

_But..._

"Why me? I'm not that influential among the Order..."

"Because I want _you_ by my side."

"That's not an answer." 

Kneeling before his chair like he had done less than an hour before with his Master - except much more closer, Anakin said softly:

"It's because I'm in love with you."

Obi-Wan scoffed.

"No you're not." 

"It's true. I kissed you, didn't I?"

"That doesn't mean... You kissed Padmé too. You probably kissed a lot of people, what with the whole..." He gestured vaguely at Anakin before concluding: "Doesn't mean you're in love with them."

"The whole what?"

Obi-Wan groaned. Of course that would be the thing Anakin would focus on.

He shook his head, refusing to say it. Anakin's face turned smuggest than ever.

"Come on," he said teasingly. "You can say it. You know you can't res..."

"I swear if you say anything else about wanting your dick..." Obi-Wan cut him harshly.

"Oh, so _that'_ s what we're talking about?"

"I'm going to hit you again."

"Fine, fine. And I'm... Sorry about that. You'd just bitten me. I was frustrated..."

"You're sorry? I think you seemed pretty pleased with yourself."

"Well it seems that you find it insulting for some reason... So yeah, I'm sorry. But that was not what _I_ was talking about, even if I do _want_ you too..."

At that he reached tentatively and put his hands on Obi-Wan's thighs, just above the knees. It wasn't a menacing gesture. It just felt... Intimate. And Obi-Wan stared at those hands, not really knowing what to do of that, until Anakin started speaking again.

"I'm talking about a real connection." He cocked his head on the side and looked at Obi-Wan inquisitively. "Don't you feel it too?"

"I feel it," Obi-Wan said reluctantly. "But..."

"But what? If you feel it..."

“Accepting the reality of those feelings doesn’t mean I have to act on them. Quite the contrary even. You can’t reproach anyone, even a Jedi, to act along with their subconscious. But if I know about it… then I have no excuses."

"So you're just going to... _Ignore it_?"

"Yes."

Anakin's expression changed instantly, going from soft and seductive to a jaw clenched, brow furrowed mask of anger. His fingers gripped at Obi-Wan's knees where they'd been lightly resting before and he spat: 

"Would you please stop with the Jedi crap?"

Obi-Wan got up, making Anakin stand with him and take a step back.

"Would you please stop with the Sith crap?" he replied on the same tone and it made his voice sound strange to his own ears. 

"Everyone feels, Obi-Wan! It's not a disease or something that should be clenched!" 

Oh yes it was. Because of his feelings, he was there, arguing with a Sith instead of trying stop him, even though he'd just confessed wanting to destroy the Republic and conquer the Galaxy. 

"You say you want our Orders to be one but what would be the price for us? You want us to fall!" 

"And what would be so wrong about it? Some of us aren't _evil!_ We're just... free."

"You're not _free._  You're some old man's property!"

And where did that came from? It was a cruel argument. Not event a real argument, actually. He knew their was different types of freedom, and that Anakin had probably no choices but to subject himself to his Master, although he still couldn't see what was forcing him too, what with the dizzying amount of power he had in his possession.

"I may be a slave," Anakin snarled in return, "but at least I know where the bars of my prison are! You don't! You don't even know they exist. That Code of yours? It binds you! Restrains you! You're giving up what's makes you _alive_!"

"It's because it's necessary! We wield too much power to be let to our own business! Being restrained is still better than being a murderous.."

" _Murderous?_  " Anakin barked an angry laugh and started pacing across the room. "The only reason you're not killing people right and left is that the Separatists are mostly using droids! You are a warrior as much as I am! A killer! Don't pretend to have the moral high ground with me!" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Obi-Wan.

"We're only killing when there is no other option."

"When you've got your hand forced, you mean? Do you ever take any decision for yourself?"

"Oh yes, I do and see where that led me!" he yelled, gesturing frantically at the space between them.

It was only at this moment realized that he had entered a shouting match with a Sith, and he had rarely felt more alive.

He wanted more of it. He wanted a fight.

"You know what?" He said brusquely, choosing another angle. "I wanted to humor you. Let you down gently... Because I _do_ believe I have the moral high ground. And I wanted to keep it, even if you don't deserve it..." He scrambled a bit. This was so not believable, but he noted that Anakin seemed to be buying it, his face falling more and more as he spoke. "But the truth is... I don't feel anything. Not anymore. You're not worthy."

"Not _worthy_?!"

A crack appeared in Anakin's shield. A falter in the litany of what was probably no more than a subroutine in the Sith's head.

Obi-Wan reached toward it and what he felt there was pain. And anger. And it felt honest, a pure expression of Anakin's feelings. Of that too he wanted more, after months of what had ended up being a lie. 

"I'm the fucking Chosen One!"

_The what, now?_

"The Chosen One? I doubt anyone would chose you. You're a liar, a traitor even to your degenerated Order and you don't even have the guts to be upfront about it..."

" _Shut up!_ You don't know..."

 _That easy?_ Obi-Wan thought, his heart beating fast as he he watched, fascinated, yellow seeping into Anakin's blue eyes and his hand was twitching over the handle of the saber clipped to his belt.

He wondered what it would feel like if Anakin were to stop deflecting right now. 

Could he handle it or would he be swept away?

_I have to know._

He smiled as he was calling his lightsaber to his hand and said:

"Come at me."

The room exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna make R2D2 appear in this chapter but then I realized that he was supposed to be present in the first chapter at least?? So it wouldn't make sense to introduce him now.  
> How could I forget about him? I had to rewatch some scenes and I honestly didn't thought about him one single time???  
> HOW?
> 
> "The Force weaves as the Force wills" is a Wheel of Time ref. People in those books often say "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills" to justify weird stuff happening and I love this expression and the Force version of it has been floating in my head for days so :D


	10. Inhibition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK  
> WITH ANOTHER BIG CHAPTER
> 
> Ahaha, I convinced my sister to NOT read this. So now I don't have to worry about weirding her out :D
> 
> Man, Ewan McGregor's smile.

**Anakin.**

 

He hadn't always been this angry.

If he was to believe his mother, he'd been a sweet boy, always ready to help less fortunate than him, defend those that were weaker and stand up in the face of cruelty or indifference.

And, sure, maybe he'd been a bit rough around the edges but one had to be resilient to survive slavery on Tatooine. But he had never been mean or shown any tendency to violence past the mock fight he would have with his friend, in which they would mimic the sounds of blaster or use pipe fragments as pretend lightsabers.

The violence, the cruelty, the rage and the indifference, it had all came later. 

The moment they'd set foot on Coruscant, he'd been taken away from his mother, sent away from the planet he'd been falsely told would be his home and threw in the fiery pit that was Sidious' fledgling Order on Mustafar. They were a dozen by then, all teenagers. Only five had made it to their twenties, including Anakin and Maul. Two had been killed by their Master. Two others by Anakin... Well, three, now, with Maul. One had died at the hands of a Jedi and the two others - a couple - had killed each other in one of the most beautiful duel Anakin had ever witnessed.

They'd been set against each other. They had learned to hate - or to hate harder - by hating each other. They had been taught to be cruel by hurting each other. To be the best by putting down the others. They'd been encouraged to react violently to the smallest provocation and as they grew older, they would get angry quicker and quicker, and sometimes, a single spark was sufficient to ignite the powder keg that was their group, arguments degenerating into full blown fights that left them burned and bloody.

When Anakin had turned fifteen and they number had went down to nine, they'd been unleashed over the Galaxy. Sent on missions, put in charge of operations and networks. Their rage had turned outward, then. They'd been told they could do anything to anyone, as long as it didn't put the Plan in peril.

The only person they weren't allowed to touch was their Master himself. Their Master had more power, more knowledge. They were his, some less figuratively than others, and he was to be respected. Was to be obeyed.

Anakin had been reprogrammed.

Oh, sure, he could act as if he hadn't. He could appear calm and polite and carefree and kind and he could mean it. He still had the memory of days in the light. He still knew what was right and what was wrong, even if he rarely felt compelled by it. Ironically, only attachment could do that. His affection for Padmé, for example, had made him hesitate a few time when dealing with her. It was also the reason he hadn't tried to force Obi-Wan's hand farther than the fail-safe of his trigger words. That and the desire to gain his love fair and square.

But it was a thin crust, that broke too easily to reveal deep, festering wounds. For all his power and and even with the certitude that he was destined to rule this Galaxy, somewhere inside there was still the slave boy from a desolated planet, who'd been told since birth that he wasn't worth more than his capacity to work and to serve. That he was less than the others, or else he would have been born free.

May it be hiding under roguish bravado, under the fancy clothes of the Coruscanti elite or under the motionless mask of Vader, he'd been bubbling, ready to erupt.

His Master had told him once that it was his greatest force. Pain and anger were the fuel of the Dark Side, after all.

But it didn't felt like an advantage when those feelings where caused by someone he cared for. It felt like a torn in his side, twisting and poisoning his blood, adding to the corruption that laid there already and magnifying it until it was barely bearable. He felt sick, not powerful.

So now he was standing there, his weapon drawn for a fight against one of the very few persons he had been sure he would never willingly hurt.

They were both standing there, Obi-Wan and him, amidst a frozen vortex of broken glass and droid parts. He'd lost control, for a moment, lashed unto his surroundings - breaking down and sending up machinery, window panels and even the the pricey sheets of his bed - with the Force and only managed to stop it by focusing his rage and his pain in a single idea: fight.

His only reaction as Anakin's fury tore apart his own room had been a brief, surprised laughter, before he powered up his lightsaber. He was smiling, now, a large, predatory smile that made Anakin waver between wanting to throw himself at his feet and beg for his love and wanting to burn his face off with his lightsaber. The former impulse fueling the later, he readied his stance

They launched at each other at the same exact moment. Both of them were fully immersed into the Force, breathing it in and out in sync.

The first clash of their lightsabers was like the chock of two tectonic plaques, powerful and unrelenting. Their blades locked together, the blue and red plasma turning white at the point if contact.

"So you'd kill me rather than be rejected?" Obi-Wan shouted over the shrill noise of their interlocked blades. 

His smile was still in place, and it infuriated Anakin even further, making the static clutter around them tremble in midair.

He didn't answer - because he had no answer, really - just grounded his teeth and and put all his strength in pushing against Obi-Wan's lightsaber, finally separating it from his own. He swung it back again, aiming at his opponent's side but was swiftly parred. He didn't tried to force it, this time, and they launched into a series of strikes, their blades in a rapid succession of vicious blow.

They had to duck sometimes, to avoid colliding with the still floating targets of Anakin's outburst. They also used them in their fight, sending them with the Force in the other's direction. A can of droid oil hit Anakin on the shoulder, probably bruising it and a piece of of sharp metal grazed his cheekbone, living a thin trail of blood in its wake but he ignored both. This kind of pain he could handle.

Obi-Wan was good. Really good. He was quick and agile, his capacities shining through his preferred form, Ataru. He not only used their surroundings to attach but also to move, jumping on the biggest suspended objects, like that half bike Anakin should have gotten rid of years ago or to put obstacles between the two of them in defense. He was good, but he was also clearly holding back, and Anakin couldn't tell if it was because he wasn't entirely set on this duel or because of something else. 

He took advantage of it, pressuring him until he was trapped between Anakin and a wall, the ceiling there to law for Obi-Wan to leap over him.

He slashed horizontally, aiming for the throat. 

Obi-Wan lightsaber came up just in time but he was forced against the wall with nowhere to run, and his weapon was the only barrier between Anakin's weapon and decapitation.

"Tell me you didn't mean it!" he shouted in his face. 

He'd hoped... No. He could fucking _feel_ it.

_So why won't you..._

He searched Obi-Wan's eyes, trying to see past the twin blue and red lights that reflected in it, past the focus of combat.

_What do you really feel?_

His mind surged to meet with Obi-Wan's and there he found elation. The joy of combat. A bit of stress cause by being pined to the wall by a lightsaber blade but nothing comparable to the feeling of someone fearing for his life.

Then he dug a bit deeper and...

_What's that?_

It was the echo of an old Force bound, something that shouldn't have been there anymore. Sneering in disgust, Anakin crushed it mercilessly. No ghost should be allowed to come between them.

Obi-Wan must have felt it, or he was simply taking advantage of Anakin's lack of attention. He kicked at his legs, making him stumble backwards and circled him slowly before replying:

"It can't never be, Anakin. We're enemies!"

"You don't think that. You wouldn't be there if you did."

"I told you I wanted to understand."

His attack almost took Anakin by surprise.

As they exchanged blow after blow, he had a brief thought for Syd and Cale. The first he had to spare for them in years, really.

Would he and Obi-Wan end up like them? Was it it? The end of their story? Killing each other over unrequited love and unshared ideals. What a downer ending.

Obi-Wan grew more bold after that brief interruption, freed of the weight of Jinn's remaining influence.

"A pity you won't let yourself sway," Anakin barked with a dry, bitter laugh. "You would be magnificent!"

It was Obi-Wan's turn to ignore him, in favor of attacking again, lashing in a wide, parallel to the ground arc that brought his saber dangerously close to Anakin's chest, slicing at his over-tunic.

Obi-Wan seemed actually more surprised than Anakin and he took a step back, letting his guard down.

Anakin took in Obi-Wan's falter, his shortened breath and the way his lightsaber was now out of and took a split second decision, before the Jedi could regain his focus.

Using the Force to had to his momentum, he charged forward and full on body slammed him, making them both fall to the ground. Anakin immediately scrambled back up, legs bracing Obi-Wan's waist and raised his weapon to deliver the killing blow. But his victorious cry died in his throat as his grip on his lightsaber relaxed and his arm dropped to his side. His blade retracted with a soft sound and he just sat there, his murdering rage all but gone. 

Around them, the frozen fragments of Anakin's life were suddenly reclaimed by gravity, crashing down so damn loudly it made the two of them flinch in a way explosions on a battlefield rarely managed anymore.

Obi-Wan stared at him, eyes wide and nostrils flaring with his shortened breath. And Anakin looked back and for a brief moment, it was like they were in the eye of a storm, a bubble of calm and perfect understanding in the midst of the chaos that was reigning around them, both in the planet wide city than in the war torn galaxy.

Then Obi-Wan grabbed at his collar and brought him down on him, crushing their lips together in a savage kiss and arching up against Anakin in a sinuous movement that made his brain short-circuit as his body went from combat ready to nearly instantaneous arousal.

He could only brace himself on his forearms and open his mouth to welcome in Obi-Wan's tongue and damn, he was certainly as skilled with it than with his saber, a pleasant surprise after his relative passiveness on the Stardestroyer. Though it also made Anakin wonder with whom the Jedi had gotten to practice... 

Still clutching his tunics, Obi-Wan used his undisputed grip to flip them over, so suddenly that Anakin couldn't do anything but follow. His saber escaped him and he would have worried about it being some ruse to get a tactical advantage over him in their interrupted fight if Obi-Wan hadn't apparently thought it was a good idea to attack his neck.

It was his turn to arch his back from the ground in search for friction as Obi-Wan kissed a trail from behind his ear to the hollow of his throat, biting at his collarbone and making him shudder from head to toe.

"I don't... I don't understand..."

He was thrilled as fuck by this turn of event but at lost concerning how Obi-Wan had changed his mind so quickly.

"You're really fucking stupid, sometimes, aren't you?" Obi-Wan mumbled against his skin.

"Hey..." he tried to protest, but was silenced by the distinct sensation of a hardening cock sliding over his hip as Obi-Wan repositionned himself over him. "Oh, Force."  

"You're not the only one who can lie."

Anakin let his head fall back to the ground and would have stayed like that, staring at the ceiling in a mix of confusion and amazement if what was happening down there on the floor wasn't much more interesting. 

There was a mad glint in Obi-Wan's darkened eyes when Anakin looked back at him.

"Force, do I want to..."

He stopped and Anakin could tell he was trying to get a hold on himself, to go back to that unfeeling state the Jedi had tried to coax him in.

Anakin would not have that.

"Anything you want," he almost purred, bringing his flesh hand up to Obi-Wan's face. "Take it," he said, caressing his cheek before sliding his thumb down so he could rub at the Jedi's reddened lips.

A strangled noise escaped from his throat and he dived down for another heated kiss before going back to Anakin's body, parting his sliced over-tunic and groaning as he was met with two other undamaged layers.

_What a day to decide to dress formally._

The first touch of Obi-Wan's mouth on his left nipple was tentative but as he started sucking the hardening nub, he was recompensed by a gasp that morphed into a full blown moan as he sunk lightly his teeth into it.

 _How comes I never noticed that I liked to be bitten that much?_ he thought. Maybe it had something to do with his past lovers being mostly female and not that proactive in bed. A shame, really.  

It was only when he started kissing past his ribs that Anakin understood what Obi-Wan had in mind.

"Oh, Force, _yes_." 

If had been a damn long time since he'd gotten any action - he may have had many flaws but being a rapist wasn't one of them. He hadn't slept with Padmé since the moment he'd felt like she wasn't with him on her own accord. As for the effect he seemed to have on Obi-Wan... well it wasn't his fault, was it? It was like asking someone to tone it down on the smell of their body, or the color of their eyes. That he _could_ mask his Force presence didn't change the fact that it was a natural part of him - and there was the person he'd fantasied about for months, about to go down on him.

_The Force is with me._

He shuddered again, this time in anticipation. This. This was perfect. This was...

There was something wrong.

There was a presence. An invasive presence in what had been his house for the last seven years. Beings to powerful to be other than Sith or Jedi. Too full light to be his allies.

"Obi-Wan," he warned, tugging at soft strands and getting only a moan from were Obi-Wan against his hip.

_Well fuck._

"Obi-Wan, stop!" he said louder, this time gripping more firmly at Obi-Wan's hair and dragging his head away and up.

"What?"

His hair were in disarray, his pupil blown wide, his lips swollen and Anakin almost said something like "never mind and please go on."

But his enemies were there.

 

* * *

 

**Obi-Wan.**

 

It felt like waking up from a dream except that instead of starting awake shouting "fuck off I won't become a Sith", he came back to himself his tongue sliding over a Sith's hipbone, his hand clasped over a Sith's erection and a Sith's hand grasping at his hair.

"What...?" he asked, both at Anakin's injunction and at the situation - not that he didn't know how it came to be. He was very much aware of that. He just didn't get how he could have thought that it was a good idea.

"Your Masters are here."

Anakin was panting and his voice sounded regretful, as if he wouldn't have minded having Obi-Wan suck him off - _kriff that's really what I was about to do_ \- in the presence of... his _Masters_?

The Council.

He stood up abruptly, extending his conscience past the burning mass of Anakin's Force presence. 

Yoda. Windu. Secura. Gallia. Fisto. Tiin. And a handle of Knights.

They were in the building.

_How did they find us?_

Had someone followed him? Had Yoda seen through his lies? Or had Ahsoka talked to them about him knowing Vader personally?

At his feet, Anakin was sitting up and calling his lightsaber back to him, a determined expression on his face.

"You've got to run," Obi-Wan said.

"Like hell I'll run from my own house!" 

“Don’t fight them, please, you’ll only make things worse!”

“I won’t let them take me either!”

“They’ll kill you if you fight back!”

“I can beat them!”

“Not that many of them. Not with Yoda and Windu and…”

“And you?” Anakin cut in.

Before today, he could always pretend that his treason was passivity. That he hadn't all the facts and didn't want to make a hasty judgment. That it was to messy, too complicated for him to tackle on his own.

But this was different. 

It should have been easy, now, to do his duty. He just had to stall Anakin until the Council arrived. 

He had no more excuses.

_As if I ever really had any._

“No. Not me. Didn't I tell you to run? Would I do that if I planned on joining them?”

Anakin looked at him with eyes that had turned back a limpid blue at some point while they where on the floor and put his hand on the side of his face like he did only minutes before. 

"And how would I know?" he asked softly.

He seemed to search for and find something in Obi-Wan's eyes because he then smiled and added:

"But I like it. That I can't be sure. You're on the right way."

Obi-Wan was about to protest but then Anakin's head spun toward the door and he frowned.

"They're going up." He turned back to Obi-Wan. "I'll contact you!"

Then he was pushed through the fractured window, falling in a slow, controlled way until he was mere feet over a terrace that jutted out of the building several stories below Anakin's room. Then a shout echoed into the night and the hold Anakin had on him disappeared, leaving him to fall by himself the short rest of the way. He landed with practiced grace and looked up immediately.

He needed to get back up there.

But before he could make any move, Anakin was there, not in body but in spirit - his gigantic, fascinating, burning hot spirit - touching Obi-Wan's mind with the delicacy of a hammer, one word echoing as loud as blaster fire.

" _Go."_

 

* * *

 

**Anakin.**

 

Anakin adjusted his clothes as best as he could. Which was not that much. A brief glance at a surprisingly intact mirror indicated him that he still looked properly fucked up.

_If only._

Leaving his ravaged room, he tried to chase every thought of the previous hour out of his mind. Now that Obi-Wan was out of harm's way, he should only concentrate on his enemies.

Even if his body didn't seemed to agree.

"Grand timing guys," he mumbled.

He'd been _so close_ to have Obi-Wan's mouth on him and they'd ruined it. And now he was gonna have to fight with a hard on.

_Think unhappy though. Think..._

Feeling his mother's sudden panic certainly did the trick.

 

* * *

 

**Obi-Wan.**

 

Anakin didn't contact him.

He spent the night pacing, giving anxious looks to his com as if he could have stared it into buzzing with Anakin's call.

By morning he was ready to go back to the residence to see by himself, but Ahsoka dragged him to breakfast in the dining hall and then she asked that he supervised her training and by this point he was too tired to find a satisfying excuse for her.

Around noon, a rumor traversed the Temple, like a wind disturbing leaves, leaving a chill in its wake. 

A Sith had been arrested and a Master was dead.

Obi-Wan went to bed.

 _Now what am I going to do?_ he asked himself in the darkness of his room. 

He needed to do something about Palpatine. But he was hesitant to do it alone. That was the man responsible for the Cone Wars. The man that had recreated the Sith Order. Even Anakin didn't dare go against him until the moment was right. Obi-Wan was unlikely to win this fight. And, well, he couldn't very well go to the Council with no proof. 

His word would have maybe sufficed, but not in the current situation. He would have to justify his presence in the residence that night. And why he had run away. And why he hadn't tried to apprehend Anakin.

He needed a solid case.

He needed Anakin.

_And only for this reason._

He would have laughed at the ridicule of this statement if sleep hadn't claimed him.

 

* * *

 

**Anakin.**

 

Mace Windu was standing on the other side of the laser wall that doubled the durasteel door of his cell, his hands tucked behind his back and looking smug as hell.

"So," he began. "We were able to find you this time."

"This time?" Anakin couldn't help but ask. "What are you talking about?"

"Of you going nuclear."

"Oh, _that_."

"Yes, _that_. It was stronger this time. Led us right to you."

Anakin got up from his cot and went to stood on the other side of the laser walls, mimicking the Master's position.

"Must have been frustrating, no? All this months spent not knowing what had happened..."

"Did you kill Qui-Gon Jinn?"

"Who?"

Windu frowned, as if he'd seriously expected Anakin to confess.

Well, it wasn't so unrealistic, given how his arrest had went down. But he didn't want them to link him to Obi-Wan.

"He was a Knight who was found dead the morning after we sensed you Force presence for the first time."

"I didn't kill anyone that night, sorry."

"That night."

"Well. I killed that Nautolan yesterday. What was his name again?" He snapped his finger. "Oh yeah, Kit Fisto."

Windu looked at him blankly and Anakin wondered if he had ever gotten angry.

"So. What's _your_ name?"

"Couldn't just take my fingerprints or whatever?"

"You aren't in the database. It means that you came here illegally."

"Oh _damn_ , that's too bad."

"Where do you come from?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't recognize the name."

"Try me."

Anakin shook his head, accompanying the gesture with the most annoying grin he could muster. 

"Is your name Vader?"

This time he right out laughed.

"Now _that_ 's a ridiculous name."

"You fought us with this," he said, producing Anakin black handled saber from inside his robe. "It has an artificial crystal. Same manufacturer than those we found during a raid on the Works this morning. We know it was Vader who ordered their fabrication."  

Anakin wondered if it was Obi-Wan or Tano who had called it in.

As he understood the inner workings of the Jedi Order, the Padawan probably wouldn't have reported to the Council without her Master input.

Unless she had believed him to be in danger.

Oh, well, that lightsaber thing wasn't really important in the end. It was only another of his Master's whims, the wish to see an army of Jedi killers storm over the Temple bearing blood tinted weapons.

And, sure, Anakin could admit that it would have looked epic and would certainly have delt a more memorable blow to their enemies but it wasn't part of _his_ plans. What he had in mind was much more subtle, and if the Force was with him, only the Masters would loose limb on the day he would march through the Temple's front doors.

He shrugged, tearing himself away from daydreams that coincidentally included cutting off the head of the very man in front of him.

"I found it."

"You found it."

"This kind of things happens, you know. The Force works in mysterious ways. Bringing such weapon to a sensitive. Now what was it thinking?"

"How come we never found you?" Windu, asked, with the kind of face only someone who had dealt with generations of obnoxious young people could pull off - which either meant that Jedi tended to be super obnoxious or that man was older than he looked. "You should have been brought to the Order."

"Oh! It's story time already?" he said with a mock surprise. "Well, Master Windu, when I was nine, a Jedi came to my homeworld. And he saw me for who I was. A Force sensitive. But you know what he told me? That I was _too old_ , and that he would not bother freeing _a slave,_ " Windu flinched at those words and Anakin's smile grew larger _._  "Just to be told that he could not train me." He stopped, feigning a profound reflection and when he raised his head again, it was to speak with an indignation he had not really felt for years, for his anger had since reported almost entirely onto his Master. "Who tells that to a _kid_?"

Windu's face stayed of stony indifference.

"It seems like he was right not to bring you to us given how you turned. But he should have signaled you to the Council. What is his name? He should respond of his mistake before the Council."

"Ahah. What do you think? He's dead."

"Who was he?"

"Sifo-Dyas."

Windu's eyebrows shot up and then his expression turned into that of someone mentally connecting dots.

"Sifo-Dyas was gifted with foresight. He must have saw what you would become."

"If he was that good he would have seen me cut his head off."

"Did the Sith had a hand in the creation of the Clone Army?"

But Anakin was tired of this questioning. Feeling like being a jerk, he just turned his back to the Master and went back to his cot, settling back down and facing the wall. It took only a minute for Windu to get his cue when he didn't get any further answer to his questions and finally, Anakin was left alone to think of how he'd almost got a blowjob by a Jedi Knight.

 

* * *

 

**Obi-Wan**

 

They were waiting for him in the Temple's docking bay.

He was to go to Geonosis with Ahsoka that day, joining forces with Luminara Unduli to take back the planet from its native inhabitants, hive-minded insectoids that were among the main manufacturers of Separatist battle droids.

He didn't want to live the planet, what with Anakin imprisoned and Palpatine free, but he didn't had much choice. Besides, a victory against the Separatists would still be a victory against the Sith Lord, or so he hoped.

He was walking toward Ahsoka when they converged from where they'd been apparently chatting among themselves or doing menial tasks on personal ships, surrounding his Padawan and facing him, lightsabers in hand but not ignited.

It was Mace Windu, Ayla Secura and Saesee Tin, along with a handful of guards. They all looked grim, as if they'd come here to his funeral.

Obi-Wan stopped at good distance from them, remembering that they had led the attack on Anakin's home only four days earlier.

Had they made him talk?

He didn't believe Anakin would have sold him to the Council... Unless maybe to convince him that they were not worthy of his loyalty.

 _I'm the one who isn't worthy of their trust,_ he thought, before hailing them precautiously.

"Good morning Masters. Is there an issue?"

Master Windu step ahead of the group, looked him up and down with an expression that was dangerously close to disgust for the Master of the Jedi Order and said gravely:

"Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're under arrest for hiding the existence of a dangerous darksider, along with crucial information from the High Council of the Jedi, complicity of rebellion and the murder of Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn."

Obi-Wan froze.

"Who told you that?"

"You will surrender your lightsaber and come quietly," Windu added, ignoring him. The others moved, then, surrounding him.

" _Who?!_ "

They ignored his plea and when he tried to move away from them, grabbed at him, both physically and with the Force.

"You can't lock me up without a trial!" 

A Force Inhibitor was placed around his neck.

"You'll await your trial in the Detention Center."

They dragged him into a cell. 

And the days passed.

 

* * *

 

**Anakin.**

 

If Anakin had been connected to the Force, he would have felt the sudden rush of wariness as the Temple's defenses were powered down.

but he'd been cut off of it for nearly a month, now, so it was only minutes later that he noticed that something was amiss.

The constant - but discreet, to his defense - buzz of the laser wall was gone.

He turned on his narrow cot and, sitting up, was able to confirm that, yep, no shimmering orange veil was visible through the square window that pierced the thick metal panel.  

He got up and walked up to it, trying to get an idea of what was going on out there. He couldn't see much through the window - just a portion of grey  wall - but he could hear something...

"You can't! Master! Wait!"

It was a young, feminine voice. 

She sounded indignant, which was a pretty odd way to address one's Master, in his opinion. Not that he was the most respectuous Apprentice - though he knew he could have been if his Master had been deserving of his respect - but he would have thought that the Jedi would 

He couldn't hear the Master's answer for he was talking to quietly but he must have asked something because his Padawan then said, reluctantly:

"I passed it on my way in. It's that one."

She'd been talking more calmly but she'd obviously moved closer. Which made Anakin realize that he had heard that voice somewhere. And he'd heard it recently.

"But you can't do that! He's our enemy!"

Oh yeah, he definitively knew this voice.

A young Togruta appeared in front of his cell. 

Ahsoka Tano didn't look one bit happy to be there.

"Heya, Snips," Ankin saluted her.

She glared at him and and Anakin was pretty sure he'd never been more happy to see someone.

That his until Obi-Wan skidded between them.

At that point Anakin could have wept in joy if weeping was something he did.

He settled on finding Obi-Wan's eyes and grinning at him.

"I need him if I want to prove my innocence," Obi-Wan said, sending his look back at Anakin, minus the smile. "Since the Council won't let me..."

_What is he talking about?_

He looked more closely at Obi-Wan and this time noticed his his growing beard - and wow he'd been really happy to see him to not notice _that_ at first glance - his pale tone and the patches of raw skin on his neck.

"Did they imprisoned you?" he asked, feeling anger rise in him. He was pretty sure there would have been some object flying if he'd been connected to the Force and if his cell hadn't been desperately bare.

Obi-Wan ignored him and closing his eyes, raised his hand in direction of the door.

Anakin took a prudent step back, just in time so his nose didn't got ripped off as the heavy durasteel panel raised from the ground and into the ceiling.

As soon as the way was free, he was on Obi-Wan, raising his chin and running his hand over the abused skin of his neck.

"They put an inhibitor on you!"

Tano's eyes went from her Master to Anakin and back to Obi-Wan and she threw her hands in the air before exclaiming:

"Yeah, right, "proving your innocence". You know just because he's your crazy ex doesn't mean you've got to..."

"He's not my ex!" Anakin and Obi-Wan said at the same time. Obi-Wan tore himself from Anakin's grip and started toward what Anakin remembered being the entrance of the Detention Center.

"So, what, you're still a thing? _Master!_ You said that..."

"We're not a _thing_."

"Actually, I think we're a thing, Obi-Wan," Anakin noted. "I mean, we went on dates, we had dinners..."

"With your girlfriend!"

"We kissed, you tried to go dow..."

"Alright, we get it!"

Anakin was pretty sure he saw Ahsoka mouth " _he kissed Darth Vader_?!". Which was a bit surprising given she was the one who started with that "thing" thing but maybe she'd just thrown it out without really thinking it.

"And Padmé wasn't there for that, now was she?" he went on.

"Padmé?" Tano interrupted. "You mean Padmé Amidala?"

Now he was getting tired of Obi-Wan's Padawan. Sadly he wasn't really able to make her shut up right now. Unless he he was ready to get physical and, well, she was armed and had been training with Obi-Wan. He was unarmed and cut from the Force. Even if her Master had let him try, he wasn't that sure of his chances.

"Like the one who testified against Obi-Wan? Wooo, remind me to never ever kiss one of her boyfriends..."

Anakin and Obi-Wan both spun around to face her and she shut her mouth so abruptly that Anakin could hear her teeth click.

"What?" Obi-Wan blurted.

"What do you mean she testified? For what?" Anakin asked, more calmly.

"The murder of Qui-Gon Jinn."

Anakin swore.

"She..." But his gaze fell on the Togruta and he stopped himself. She seemed to be under the impression that her Master was innocent. It wouldn't do them much good if she was to find the truth.

So he just looked insistently at Obi-Wan in the hope that he would get it.

He visibly didn't got it, but at least he understood that it was unwise to ask questions right now.

"We'll talk about that later," he said, to Anakin's relief. "Now we've got to get out of there."

For some reason, they hadn't came across any guard yet, which made Anakin think that the Togruta must have not only powered down the security system but also caused big enough of a distraction to draw them out of the Detention Center, despite the Temple being full of warriors already.

She might have been annoying, but he had to admit he admired her dedication.

"Did you get my saber, Ahsoka?"

"No, Master, I'm sorry," the answered, looking as chastised as if Obi-Wan had already reproached it to her. "I don't know where they keep it." 

She then seemed to remember the bundle she was still carrying.

"I brought you this, though," she said, handing Obi-Wan a brown Jedi robe. "You can hide your face that way."

"Oh. Thank you," Obi-Wan said, taking the robe and putting it on. "Alright, you can hand me your lightsaber for now."

"What for?"

"I want to be able to defend us if we encounter someone on the way out and I'm more skilled than you, my young Padawan."

The Togruta was clearly hesitant to abandon her weapon but her obedience to her Master took presence and she handed it to him.

They finally saw someone a minute later, a guard whose lightsaber pike was ignited, throwing a yellow light over his mask.

Anakin prayed to the Force that he would not try and use it to detect potential presences.

They hid behind pillars, Anakin and Obi-Wan on one side of the hallway, Ahsoka on the other. 

"Obi-Wan, " he whispered.

"What?"

"Can you get this thing off of me?" he said, pointing at the inhibitor.

Obi-Wan looked at his neck, then at Ahsoka, then at Anakin's face.

"No."

"What? Why?"

"Because, you're _Darth Vader._ She's going to throw a fit if I do that." 

"She's a kid! She's unarmed!"

"She's a Jedi, and she's not a criminal! She just have to scream and they'll come get us, throw us back in our cells. Is that what you want?" 

Anakin sighed and leaned past the pillar to see that the guard had turned a corner and was now out of sight.

He shouldn't have, though. He should have waited until the two of their little group actually capable of sensing Force presence had deemed safe to move because there was a shout behind him, and he turned around to see a Knight at the other end of the hallway. he was pretty sure this one had been among the Jedi that arrested him, too.

The man started to run toward them, switching on his lightsaber.

Anakin was pushed aside by Obi-Wan, who powered up Tano's green's saber before charging at the newcomer.  

Anakin elbowed Ahsoka.

"Did you see that? He did the robe thing!"

"What?" she said, immediately stepping aside, as if being a darksider was somehow contagious.

"The robe thing! I've only see it in holo before. So fucking majestic."

She looked at him with round eyes and exclaimed:

"Kriff me, you're a fanboy!"

A loud thump made them both turn back in Obi-Wan's direction. He was standing over the now knocked off guard, apparently having sent him to meet the wall.

"Let's go," he said, picking up his discarded robe.

They didn't meet any more resistance after that. Tano was smiling enigmatically and refused to say what she had done. She said that they might learned about it on the holonews, though, depending of "how big it got". 

"Go back to our quarters," Obi-Wan said as they approached a service door. He handed his Padawan her lightsaber and she seemed reluctant to accept it back, this time."

"But..."

"They don't have a way to pin this on you, do they?"

"No."

"Then you can stay. It's what's best for you, Ahsoka."

She bowed her head in obedience, then looked sideways at Anakin.

"You really need him?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then."

To Obi-Wan's obvious surprise, she then hug him fiercely, before running away.

"She really trusts you," Anakin remarked as they watched her go.

"Well. I'm her Master," Obi-Wan replied, looking a bit stunned.

"And all Jedi are told to have unwavering faith in their Master? Even if they're hanging out with murderous Sith? I mean, she obviously knew who I was, so..."

"I... have a certain reputation."

"Oh? Please, do tell."

Obi-Wan sent him an annoyed side look and said instead:

"An other time maybe, no we're getting out and we find someplace to lay low."

"You now, I've got this place..."

 

* * *

 

**Obi-Wan.**

 

The safe house was situated in the middle levels of a pretty shady area. Obi-Wan had seen worse – much worse – during his years among the Order, both on planet and off, but still, he had longed for his weapon as the two of them had walked those streets that the light of the sun never reached and the stares of locals the had become more and more menacing as they made their way through the area.

It was a rather large apartment for the area, with a spacious living room, a kitchen and a bedroom on the first floor and a staircase, going up to a second that Obi-Wan didn't explore. Although it was nothing like those of the higher levels, all furniture made for comfort and utility rather than aesthetic, the place was nice and felt... Safe.

_Which is pretty good for a safe house, I guess._

"I'm going to take a shower," he announced, not waiting for Anakin to reply.

He spent a good half hour under the spray, relishing in the feeling of hot water undoing the kinks and knots in his back and neck, a gift from the hard cot he'd been sleeping on for three weeks. He tried not to think to much about what his future was going to be - he'd tortured himself enough with this kind of thoughts while in his cell - concentrating instead on his physical comfort and the flow of the Force around him. He'd missed the feeling of being apart of the universe, the knowledge that he wasn't alone but only a cog in an infinitely vast machinery. It had been cruel to cut him from it, and a bit redundant, what with the double barrier at the door and all the guards patrolling the Detention Center. Though it was probably a just punishment for a murderer, this utter solitude, this feeling that the world could have been destroyed while he was in there and he would have known nothing of it.

Feeling truly clean for the first time in weeks, Obi-Wan got out of the shower and after staring at his reflection in the large mirror that stood in front of it, decided that he could live with a beard.

It wasn't like the Temple's Detention Center didn't had any sanitary accommodation but they weren't exactly as private and comfortable as the ones accessible to free men. Also for some unknown reason, he'd been denied a change of clothes - _"For Force sake! just call my Padawan! My room is only ten minutes away!"_   he'd say again and again to the Jedi that guarded the halls of the Detention Center. Most of them had just shook their head before continuing their round but two had smirked at him and he had started to think it was some petty vengeance. Even if he didn't like to recognize it, he had arise to the status of hero while they were stuck on guard duty. And even Jedi had their pride... - and he was seriously starting to stink.

He found clean clothes that obviously belonged to Anakin as they were a few inches to long for him. It wasn't noticeable once the shirt and pants were tucked in belt and boots though, so he just rolled with it.

Putting on a jacket, he started toward the front door. As unpleasant as the neighborhood was, he ached to go outside again. Having spent three weeks in jail was making him feel restless and claustrophobic inside. 

“Where are you going?”

Anakin was sprawled over the couch, hair still wet and wearing clean clothes too, indicating the presence of an other room and another fresher, probably upstairs. He looked ready to fall asleep, with only one eye cracked open.

“To have a drink. Or two. Or a lot more. I don’t know.”

He would have to be inside for that but at least he wouldn't care if he got hammered.

Anakin opened his eyes properly to look at him incredulously. 

“It’s really not the moment, Obi-Wan. They’re going to search for us.”

“One does not simply find someone in Coruscant, Anakin. I think I have the time to get drunk before they find us.”

"Everyone knows your face, you know?" Anakin replied, getting up swiftly, all trace of sleepiness gone. "Even my mother knew who you were, and she doesn't look at the holonews that much. Anybody can decide that it's a good idea to denounce you to the Council. Don't take that risk when you only just got out," he added pleadingly, putting a hand on Obi-Wan's arm as if to keep him there by his touch alone.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But I don't think the Order communicated on my arrest. The Masters like to settle that kind of things internally. They wouldn't want the people to think even the _Negotiator_..." he grimaced at the word. "Can go rogue."

"Do you consider yourself as "gone rogue"?"

He ignored the question, staring pointedly at Anakin hand on his biceps until he finally released it and reach to the panel controlling the door. 

“Why do you want to get drunk anyway?” Anakin asked, making him turn again and sigh.

“So I can forget for a moment that my Order arrested me for the murder of my Master. Are you done?”

“At least get this thing off of me. I can’t protect you like this.”

 _Of course he's gonna follow me,_ Obi-Wan thought, rolling his eyes.

“I can protect myself, thank you very much. Besides, it suits you.”

Anakin stood there, mouth open, then he frowned.

"I don't know if I should take this as a compliment."

"Do what you want," Obi-Wan said, shrugging. "I'm going out."

"Wait!" Anakin came between him and the door. "Are you punishing me for something?"

 Obi-Wan looked at him longly before admitting:

"Maybe. I can think of a few reasons for why you deserve it."

Anakin opened his mouth to retort something but then seemed to think better of it and closed it again.

"Alright," he finally relented a few seconds later. Then he added, as if inspiration had suddenly struck him: "But I'm choosing the place."

"Why?" Obi-Wan asked, suspicious.

"Do you know the neighborhood?"

"Not really," he had to admit.

"Well I do. I spent my teenage years shaking thugs and cashing debts here... in a lot of other places too but this one was among my regulars. I know the places to avoid and the ones that serve decent drinks. I'm picking."

 

* * *

 

"So what are you planning to do next?"

Anakin had led him through busy streets, passing several bars without stopping, finally settling for a discreet establishment, of the kind that were easy to miss if you didn't knew abut it before hand. They've been served flashy blue drinks by a purple skinned barmaid who had smiled amicably at Anakin and examined Obi-Wan curiously before making a weirdly appreciative face.

"Take down your Master."

"You can't..." Anakin started to protest before sighing heavily. "I told you I had a plan."

"And I told you I served the Republic."

"Even after your arrest? I didn't thought you would stay loyal."

It remembered Obi-Wan of a thought he had during his arrest. _What if Anakin was responsible?_ But Ahsoka had said Padmé had testified...

He didn't remember seeing her there that night but it didn't mean that she hadn't be. His memories of it were muddled, corrupted by Anakin's overwhelming Force presence and the sheer surrealism of the whole thing.

"Well. I _did_ kill Qui-Gon."

He looked up at Anakin then, only to see that his face was devoid of any remorse. He lifted his drink and took a somehow aggressive swig - the key was to gulp loudly - then another. And an other.

_Hum, that blue stuff is pretty good._

"You know I can't let you sabotage it," Anakin said, looking a bit worried, which made Obi-Wan chuckle.

"What are you gonna do about it?" he asked, leaning over the table, an eyebrow raised in defiance and a grin on his lips.

"Sabotage _you_. Make sure you never find any proofs. Lock you up until you see reason, if I must. But I'd rather not. I told you that I wanted you by my side."

"Lock me up? Wow, that certainly ought to put me at ease, Anakin."

He drained the last drop of his drink and got up. Anakin half stood, a question on his lips, but Obi-Wan raised a hand to stop him. 

"Relax, I'm just getting a refill."

When he came back they just sat in silence, neither of them willing to talk again about their respective plans.

It had been easy for them to talk, once, but with everything that had happened, Obi-Wan could not imagine them having the same kind of conversations. He didn't want to talk about the Order. He had no Master to complain about anymore and he doubted Anakin would like to share dirt on his. As to more impersonal subjects... For some reason talking about holodramas with a Sith Lord seemed like the ultimate treason. You don't do mundane with your enemy, even when you find your enemy extremely hot. Or feel compelled to jump his bones every time your spirits meet. Or even if you used to watch said holodramas together while eating ridiculously expensive ice cream.

So now they were left staring at each other over their drinks and Obi-Wan couldn't tell what was stronger: the uncertainty concerning their common future or the sexual tension.

"Your turn," Obi-Wan said with a sight, pushing his empty glass toward Anakin. He took it and finished his in a long sip that made his throat work in a way that didn't made Obi-Wan stare. Not at all. Then he got up and on his, way, stopped to say, right in Obi-Wan's ear - something that he seemed to enjoy doing a lot - to "stay there and don't try and do anything stupid". Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at him but still turned around to look at him go. He was nearly as nice looking from behind. 

"Celebrating something?"

Obi-Wan shifted back on his stool to discovered a tall man ghostly pale skin and slick black hair who smiled at him mischievously before sliding into the Anakin's vacated seat.

_Mmh, not bad._

"My liberty and the possible end of everything I've ever worked for."

"Congratulations?"

Obi-Wan shrugged and tilting his head in a way he would have found ridiculous if he'd been sober, proceeded to examine the man more closely.

"You're a Nagai, aren't you? What brings you so far from home?" 

The Nagai were a species native of one of the two companion galaxies. It wasn't exactly rare seeing one in the Galactic Core, but it was still noteworthy.

"War, what else?"

"On Coruscant?"

"War isn't only battles, you know. There is a lot of profit to be made, specially around the place the decisions are taken."

 "Oh, really? What kind of profit?"

He wasn't actually sure he wanted to know. What if it was the illegal kind? He would have to arrest him...

_Oh, yeah right._

"Not the kind a wise man would brag about, actually."

_Uh, maybe an anonymous tip?_

Deciding that a change of subject was for the best, he asked: 

"I didn't get the chance to go on the holonet those last few weeks. What are the news?"

"What kind of news are you interested in?"

"How's the war going?"

"Let's see... The Republic lost some battle last week on Geonosis. Those damn bugs retook the planet with _zombie worms_ , they said. The Sepies also took several Outer Rim systems but I don't know which ones. Communications are rather hazardous in that area. Also its seems like there's trouble brewing on Mandalore."

"Really? But they're neutral..."

"Seems like some of them don't like it. How do they call themselves, again? Oh, yeah, the _Death Watch_. Want to be warriors again, I heard."

Oh, that was not good. Not good at all.

"They even say that they tried to kill the Duchesse..."

_Not Satine... She's the epitome of the pacifist. That's so kriffing low..._

Obi-Wan shook this thought aside for the time being and realized that Anakin had been gone for a bit more time than was necessary in the this sparsely crowed place. Tuning around on his stool, he looked in the direction of the bar, where Anakin seemed to be still waiting for their orders. Following Obi-wan's gaze, the Nagai hummed in a way that Obi-Wan didn't really know what to made of.

“He’s your slave or somethin’ ?”

"What?"

"You know, with the..."

He gestured at his own throat.

“Oh. No, it’s a cosmetic choice.”

“It suits him.”

“That’s what I said.”

 

* * *

 

**Anakin.**

 

Grabbing their drinks from the bar, Anakin turned around to find Obi-Wan in deep conversation with... Was that a Nagai? _Uh, unusual_.

Frowning at the pair, he made his way back to their table and put down Obi-Wan's glass a bit more forcefully than intended, blue liquid sloshing over the edges. 

Not liking on bit the way the Nagai was looking at the Jedi, he sled his flesh arm around Obi-Wan's waist. He tried halfheartedly to push him away but quickly gave up when Anakin didn't bulge. He sighed and lifted his right arm to grip at Anakin's inhibitor to instead pull him right against his back.

He happily complied and nosed at Obi-Wan's hair while sending his most menacing glare at the Nagai who, annoyingly, just looked amused.

 

 

"What took you so long?" Obi-Wan asked.

"The barmaid was too busy flirting to serve drinks."

That wasn't exactly true. Well, it was, but not the only truth. He hadn't chose this bar on a whim, or just because they served amazing drinks. It was owned by the Order, and the staff was loyal to Anakin. So he'd taken a few minutes to get get a few news from the barmaid and the promise of a complete report on his operations to be delivered at the safe house later in the night.

As if somehow sensing his half lie, Obi-Wan turned his head to look at him but Anakin just hid into the Jedi's nape, taking in the clean smell of his skin.

"So, as I was saying to..."

"Ben," Obi-Wan said.

"Hi Ben, I'm Tehan," the Nagai said with a laugh. "So, as I was saying to Ben here, I've got a room not far from here, if you two want to move this conversation in a more private setting..."

 

* * *

 

"That was sooo unnecessary."

Anakin sent Obi-Wan a sideways look that he hoped conveyed clearly how much he thought that it had been, indeed, necessary.

"We were talking about the latest galactic events. I missed a lot those past few weeks."

Anakin stopped right in the middle of the alley. They'd gotten out of the bar by the back after Anakin had sent the Nagai flying - not literally since he was still cut off from the Force, but he'd been pretty sure his feet had left the ground for a moment - into a nearby table, breaking it under his weight. Anakin would have stay there after that - the place was pretty much his, after all - but Obi-Wan had remarked that they were still on the run and he didn't want to have to explain why it wouldn't be a problem here.

"Do you realize he wanted to have a threesome?" he asked bluntly.

"Really?" Obi-Wan asked, eyes round with surprise.

"And I don't share."

"Too bad," Obi-Wan snickered. "Cause I've got to go to Mandalore."

_What the fuck does it have to do with sharing?_

"You're drunk," Anakin concluded.

Obi-Wan shrugged.

"That was the goal."

"You're drunk and we're not going through those street again unprotected."

He went nearly nose to nose with Obi-Wan and raised his chin to expose the inhibitor.

"Take it off."

"We're not that far from the safe house," Obi-Wan mumbled, staring at his neck with a confused expression.

"I don't want to take any risk."

"That's funny coming from you... Aren't you the only human podracer or whatever?"

He glared down his nose at Obi-Wan. The Jedi had a smug face on, as if he'd won their argument by appealing to Anakin taste for

"I would never engage in a podrace while cut off from the Force. Besides, it's not only my life that's at stake here. It's yours too."

"Why would you care?"

Anakin blinked several time in a quick succession.

_What?_

"Have I not made myself clear? I can repeat it if you want. As many time as he'd take. I love you. I fucking lo..."

"Alright! I get it!" Obi-Wan cut in, blushing furiously.

Anakin laughed.

"You're really drunk aren't you? I've never seen you blush like that. Where has your detachment gone, Jedi?"

Obi-Wan glared at him and , only getting an insolent grin in return. Then he threw his arms in the air and looking like this was making him _so miserable_ , said:

"Alright, I'll take it off."

He closed his eyes, finally, concentrating on the internal lock of the collar, a mechanism only accessible to Force users.

As soon as the inhibitor dropped, Anakin took hold of the Force and, as one feels the need to stretch their members after too long of a time spent in a tight space, he felt the urge to move things around.

But that alley was pretty empty, and he had no wish to break down walls or open up the ground under them. So he lashed onto his companion. Not violently - he promised himself he would not hurt him, after their duel, and he didn’t want to - but playfully, making him turn around and tackling him to one of the alley's walls before stalking to him until he was close enough to land a light kiss on his lips.

“Thank you.”

Obi-Wan groaned as his head fell back against the wall.

Anakin let him go and Obi-Wan fell a few inches, his knees flexing as he touched the floor. He frowned at Anakin and next thing he knew, he was on the other side of the alley, pinned to the wall like Obi-Wan was a moment before.

"Fuck off," the Jedi said grumpily as he started toward the larger street on which their alley opened. His Force hold relented a few seconds later, though, so Anakin chose to believe he wasn't really angry.

He ran after him with a satisfied smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you nerds got confused by the lightsaber forms, here and two chapters ago: In canon, Anakin use Shien and Obi-Wan switch from Ataru to Soresu after Qui-Gon's death (apparently because it's a more defensive form?) but I chose Juyo because it's a more aggressive form that Sith seem to fancy and Ataru because Obi-Wan doesn't have any reason to switch.


End file.
